


Cue The Storm

by Serpent_Tailed_Angel



Series: Storm Brewing [1]
Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: Love Triangle, M/M, Mpreg, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-10
Updated: 2014-12-12
Packaged: 2018-02-28 21:58:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 25
Words: 61,720
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2748596
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Serpent_Tailed_Angel/pseuds/Serpent_Tailed_Angel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When a miscommunication causes Rogue and Sting to break up, Rogue is forced to seek shelter from the rain at Natsu's. One thing leads to another and the two begin to fall for one another just in time for Sting to realize his mistake and run back begging for forgiveness. Will Rogue stay with the man who helped him in his time of need, or return to the ex he isn't completely over?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Decided to start uploading some of my older fics that I'm not totally ashamed of here.

The place should have been condemned.

Was it safe to go inside? That would be a good reason to turn back. No one could accuse him of chickening out if the building itself was unsound. Maybe it would have been better if he'd gone and begged someone else for help. Orga. Yukino. Even Minerva! What had possessed him to think this was a good idea?

Swallowing his pride, Rogue reached out and knocked.

-o-

"It's around here somewhere…"

"This wouldn't be a problem if Natsu knew how to clean."

"Oy! Don't talk about me like I'm not here. And you live here too. Why don't you know where it went?"

"Because I'm not the one who needs it," Happy teased.

Natsu growled and ducked his head back into the hole he'd dug (in his mound of tossed aside possessions) and looked around, shifting through old toys and books that he needed to return to Lucy eventually, trying to find where his scarf could have fallen. How had he lost it? He could have sworn it was around his neck!

"Natsu."

"Hang on. I think I see it."

"But Natsu…"

Ignoring the cat, Natsu pushed against the wall of his hole, not wanting to try and yank his precious scarf out from under something heavy and tear it. The shift collapsed the wall on top of him.

"Natsu, someone's at the door."

"Aye… I'll be right there."

It took a minute to extract himself and the scarf. Wrapping it around himself as he climbed down from the mess, he peered at the window. Too dark to see anyone. Cana had predicted a full moon, but when Natsu and Happy had sat down and started making forest hiking plans she'd decided not to mention that there was also going to be a downpour completely blotting out the night sky. They'd have been caught in it if he hadn't misplaced his scarf.

"…not home?" he caught a voice outside saying. They'd been quiet, almost too quiet to hear over the drum of rain on his roof. A visitor at such a late hour, in such horrible weather, or even at all was strange enough. Someone who was aware of how sharp a dragon slayer's hearing was?

Natsu growled and stomped up to the door, grabbing it and swinging it open. "Gajeel, if this is about the cotton, I don't want to hear what you-"

He froze, staring at the sight before him. Even getting beaten up, Rogue had looked perfectly composed whenever Natsu had seen him. Sure, being drenched could take that look away from anyone, but it was more than that. Something about his face, which usually looked completely indifferent…

"Uh… come in."

Rogue looked away, but nodded and entered when Natsu stepped aside.

"Where's Sting?"

"At… home." Natsu scowled, waiting for Rogue to say more. Why was Sting back home when his partner was miles away in the rain? What was wrong that Rogue had sounded so strained when he said that?

"Why don't you get out of those wet clothes?" was what Natsu heard himself asking instead. "I have a jinbei around here… somewhere. You can change into that while your things dry."

Rogue nodded again and undid his cape, but waited until Natsu had found the spare clothes before stripping down the rest of the way. His every action was so hesitant that Natsu decided it would be best to busy himself with getting a fire ready to distract himself from Rogue's dressing. Neither spoke while he hung the clothes over the heat.

"Where's your cat?" Happy asked.

"Frosch… stayed home too. I'll let her know where I am… soon."

"Something happened?" Natsu asked. It was obvious, but Rogue hadn't lifted his gaze above knee level the whole time, and Natsu couldn't quite bring himself to be blunt when someone he'd seen as so stoic looked so dejected. "Sit down. Our evening plans got messed up, so we started making dinner late. It'll be ready in a half an hour, if you plan on staying that long."

"Is that alright with you?"

"Yeah. What did you come here for anyway? A rematch?" That clearly wasn't it, but Natsu hoped that if he wanted that to be the case hard enough, then that would turn out to be the case.

Rogue shook his head. "I just needed somewhere to stay for… um… the night."

"Oh. The rain took you by surprise too, huh?" Natsu asked. "But it's weird that you'd be doing a job without Sting. I thought you two were always together."

Rogue flinched. "Together…?"

"Yeah… uh… you two just seemed close and… really! Sit!"

Rogue looked around. Sit _where_? There was a couch, but an old tub rested on it. There was no dining table with chairs. Not even a mattress. Did Natsu want him sitting in the hammock? He stared for a moment, then decided to just get down on the floor. It couldn't be dirtier than anything else in the place.

"There. So what were you doing when you got caught in the rain?"

"Coming here," Rogue confessed.

"Eh? It wasn't a job?" Happy asked.

Rogue shook his head.

"Well, tell us why you came already?" Natsu demanded, taking a seat on the floor across from Rogue.

"I… uh…" It felt odd to be tongue tied. He'd already come this far. Why couldn't he just say it? This wasn't him! "I… I'm… do you… remember the spell that went awry the final day of the Grand Magic Games?"

Natsu laughed. "Oh yeah! That got Jellal knocked up with Erza's kid. Man! It was great watching him try to explain that to her."

"But then once she figured out what he was saying," Happy covered his mouth and snickered. "Chu, chu, chu."

Rogue's shoulders sagged in relief. He didn't get what Happy was saying, but if Natsu had already seen someone else in his situation that made things easier. "I'm pregnant as well."

"Huh? With Gajeel's kid?"

"No." It practically came out as a growl. Rogue bit his lip and looked back down. He couldn't afford be rude just then. "No. Sting and I… are… _were_ together, so when the spell struck me it made him the father."

"Were?"

"Well… we never… got that far," Rogue admitted, "so he doesn't believe me. Never mind that a man can't get pregnant that way anyways! He said I was cheating on him! How could he have been such an idiot? I never-"

"Uh-let me check on the dinner," Natsu said before bolting back across the room.

Rogeu blinked, realizing he'd let his feelings get the best of him. He couldn't really help it. He'd already spent most of the day crying. Finally getting mad about it was probably healthy. Cheating! As if he'd ever! Sting should have known better than to think that! He… had to have known better…

So had it just been an excuse to kick him out? The thought hadn't even occurred to Rogue, but now that it had he couldn't think of anything else. Tears threatened to start falling again and he blinked rapidly to ward them off. He was Rogue Cheney. He didn't have emotional outburst. Certainly not in front of rivals.

When the silence stretched on for too long Happy became uncomfortable enough to ask, "You're avoiding Sting for the night then?"

"You two should make up tomorrow," Natsu added.

Rogue shook his head. "He told me not to come back. Just… shoved me out of the door screaming the whole time." Shit. Don't cry. Don't cry. "But I'll only be here for the night. I can figure something out in the morning."

Natsu nodded, a gesture that no one else would see since he was scouring his cabinets for a third clean plate while he did so. "I wouldn't want to make you go out in the rain while you're pregnant, so it's fine if you stay. If you're not going back to Sting, and you came here, then is your guild busy right now? When your other friends get back-"

"Sabertooth isn't a good guild for making friends," Rogue cut in. "I have Sting and Frosch, and Lector. That's it. They're all still at home."

"So… do you… have any emergency cash for a time like this?"

"Yes. It's at home with the jack-with the idiot who doesn't ever want to see me again." Just thinking about it made Rogue feel sick. Or was that morning sickness? No… no that was just thinking about it. "I'll have to find a job in the morning. All I was thinking about this afternoon was somewhere to stay when it started raining." If he didn't have something worked out by that time the next day, at least it would be a clear summer night when he had to sleep outside.

"Why can't you work at Sabertooth?" Natsu asked.

"Because… the doctor I saw said I can't do any work that involves fighting. My magic isn't good for much else, and if I can't work I won't be allowed to stay in the guild. As soon as they learn I'm pregnant they'll send me a letter telling me to resign.."

"They don't let people go off active duty?"

In some cases, but his wasn't one of them. Rogue shook his head.

"How are you planning to work at all then?" Happy asked.

"I don't know. Get hired as a waiter somewhere? I can apply at a new guild once I've… once the kid's born." Once I've given birth. Why was that so terrifying to say? "I won't trouble you after tonight. Thank you for letting me stay."

"It's not a problem," Natsu insisted, though what he was about to say might be. "You can stay until after you've given birth, if you want. Mira says waiters don't make much, and you need to save up to buy things for the baby, right?"

Rogue had to focus to keep his jaw from dropping. Stay the whole eight months he had left? Sure it was a sty, but he'd hardly be able to afford better with what wages he'd be able to earn without magic, and if he didn't have to worry about rent, then that would make it easier to focus on the other financial nightmares, like keeping fed and preparing for the child's arrival. "You'd let me stay?" Really? He knew Natsu was supposed to be kind despite his penchant for wrecking houses, but this… was above and beyond. He was nearly a stranger!

Natsu paused in the middle of plopping a tuna casserole onto the plates he'd manage to find to smile and nod for Rogue. "I can speak to Gramps too about getting you work. We just moved back into the old guildhall and some of the members who left during the time we were gone are coming back. He's been saying we need to hire people to help with the bar again. If I ask him, it would probably be okay for you to join as an inactive member and help Mira with orders. Then once you can really work again you don't have to worry about finding a guild."

"I…" Forget swallowing pride. This wasn't even a moment where that was a consideration. Rogue shifted on to his knees and got down in the deepest bow he could manage. "Thank you."

Natsu smiled wider and set the plate down for Rogue. "You can sleep in the hammock. I'll move the tub off the couch and back to the bathroom and sleep there for the night. Rather than look for work tomorrow you can help me find a better bed for you."

"Thank you," Rogue repeated, coming up from his bow. "I can't thank you enough. Will you be alright on the couch?"

"Eh? I'm not sleeping on the couch. It's all soggy from having the tub on it."

"Then where are you-"

"I'm sleeping in the tub."

Rogue gaped.

"Huh. I didn't know you could make that expression."

Setting his plate down on the ground, Rogue asked, "Wouldn't it still be wet in the tub?"

Natsu shrugged. Between cold wet fabric and a wet tub… actually, they both sounded unpleasant, but the tub still won. "I couldn't make a guest sleep on a wet couch, and the hammock can't fit two people without them lying against one another. You're eating for two, right. Eat up! Is something wrong with my cooking?"

It was slimy, but Rogue wouldn't have called it bad. He took a bite to appease Natsu then said, "I wouldn't mind sharing a bed. I'd be more comfortable with that than knowing you're in the tub."

"Eh? Fine. We can both spend the night in the hammock, but we'll need something set up for you tomorrow, right Happy?"

"Aye." Happy cheered. "And a crib, and a baby bottle, and…" he snickered, eyes sliding to Rogue in a way the raven haired man was certain he didn't like, "a maternity dress."

Against his will, Rogue's hand went down to his still flat stomach. Maybe this wasn't such a great offer after all.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 'S been a little while since I worked on a Fairy Tail fic. I forgot I just had this thing where I would find a way to either mention hunting selkie or seeing a movie/play about a princess who saves a knight from a dragon.

After a warm meal and a moderate night's sleep Rogue had recovered from the initial shock of having been kicked to the curb, but after a hearty breakfast he still wasn't quite ready to set foot in Fairy Tail.

"This won't be an issue? Sabertooth gave your guild a lot of trouble."

"And now you're in trouble, and they'll be happy to help."

Rogue braced himself for when the boisterous guild would grow quiet after seeing him in the doorway, and was completely unprepared for the powerful scent of dust and alcohol that the building belched out instead. No one even paid him much heed aside from to wave or to maybe ask if he wasn't about to be sick.

Once he'd recovered from the smell, Natsu led Rogue up to the bar counter, where Makarov was polishing up the old, dull wood. He smiled up at Natsu as the two approached, but frowned when he noticed Rogue.

"Does Sabertooth have a problem with us?" Makarov asked. "We haven't had anything to do with them since the Games ended."

"He's here for work," Natsu corrected. "He can't stay at Sabertooth."

To Rogue's relief, Natsu took care of all the explaining for him. Makarov also recalled that one Jellal something or other had also wound up pregnant from that mishap, and looked increasingly sympathetic as Natsu laid things out for him. If the flash of pure pity when Natsu had mention Sting booting him from their house had made bile rise in Rogue's throat, well, at least it meant he was guaranteed the job, even if it was for no reason other than pure pity.

It wasn't until he was led off by Mirajane and handed a tray of drinks that he realized he'd signed up to serve people who had been his rivals less than twenty-four hours ago.

-o-

Fairy Tail was growing again, but it wasn't huge yet, and Rogue still had some settling in to do, so after spending the morning getting instructions and trying his hand at taking and carrying orders for people at lunch Rogue was given the rest of the day off. Mattress hunting and sheet purchasing only took an hour, leaving Rogue with the rest of the afternoon to find something to do while Natsu went off with his teammates and hunted selkie.

When he got the mattress back to Natsu's house he hit a snag and found a solution. There was no good place to set his temporary bed, so why not clean up? He just needed to empty out a corner, and then he'd have a nice little clean sanctuary to keep to for the rest of his pregnancy.

That didn't take as long as he'd hoped it would. He set the mattress down and got his bedding all set up, then sat there for a minute, wondering what to do next.

Dishes?

Then maybe get Natsu's training equipment in order.

What about all the haphazardly strewn books?

And now that he looked at it, some of the kitchen equipment looked like it could use some tightened screws and a bit of polish.

By the time Natsu came home three days later his house was spotless.

-o-

The first week passed without a snag. Even when he started working full shifts Rogue had enough time to keep the house cleaned to his satisfaction and still browse through the book collection that he determined had actually been stolen from Lucy, learn his way around town, and find a few spots to sneak off to incase he ever desperately needed to be alone.

Then Natsu had to go and suggest something sensible.

"We should pick up your things."

"My things?" Rogue asked, dread growing in the pit of his stomach as he tried to stop himself from realizing what Natsu had implied.

"From your old place. I mean, you and Sting must have shared a lot of stuff, but I doubt you shared a toothbrush and you shouldn't have to replace the stuff you can transport easily. And you can get your savings, and your clothes, and Frosch."

The last one was the only reason Rogue agreed to go. Facing Sting again was the absolute last thing he wanted to do, but another night without Frosch was pretty low down on his list too, and it was probably rock bottom on Frosch's list. Having a change of clothes that he wasn't borrowing from Natsu would also be nice.

With only one exceed between the two of them, they took a train. There was nothing Rogue loved more than riding a train, especially when he already had morning sickness for the motion sickness to add too.

The ticket taker lent him a bucket.

Neither of them could have gotten off of the train any faster than they did. A few people at the station gave them odd looks, but it wasn't until a few people greeted him that Rogue realized they were all directed at Natsu.

So Sting hadn't told anyone yet. Of course not. Sting thought Rogue was a cheating whore, and he wasn't going to walk into a room and announce that he'd been played. No one would hear about their split until someone twisted Sting's arm to force him to explain why they hadn't seen Rogue around recently.

That made the walk through town easier. Questions about why he was consorting with a Fairy were easy to brush off. Jibes about his condition or accusations about him being unfaithful wouldn't have been.

And that was what he knew was coming when he stood in front of the building that, just a week ago, had been a safe, private place to be with his beloved.

His beloved growled when he opened the door.

"We're just here to get Rogue's things," Natsu informed him, slipping past Sting and into the house.

"You really have some nerve, coming back," Sting said, stepping aside and letting Rogue follow Natsu in. "And what's with the 'we' there? Don't you dare tell me he's the one you were sleeping with."

Rogue looked away.

"Well?"

Rather than answer, he made a dash for the stairs.

Sting turned to glare at Natsu. "What _are_ you doing with Rogue?"

"He moved in with me," Natsu answered honestly. It wasn't like there was anything wrong with taking in someone who needed help.

"Of course he did," Sting grumbled, leaning up against the wall. Silence followed. The sounds of Frosch's delighted squeal drifted downstairs before he spoke again. "So… did you?"

"Did I what?"

Sting hesitated before asking it. "Sleep with Rogue?"

"Yeah. Last week we-"

"I _don't_ want the details," Sting hissed.

Natsu shrugged. There was nothing dirty about it. It was just that between the two of them there had only been one place suited for sleeping in. He chocked Sting's behavior down to being overly conservative, which made it odd that the dumb blond liked such revealing clothes, and let the topic drop.

Standing around in the entryway got awkward. He went to help Rogue pack his things.

Up in his room Rogue was stuffing clothes haphazardly into a suitcase. Natsu wasn't much of an expert at keeping things orderly, but when Rogue ran out of the room to grab some other possessions he took it upon himself to pull the clothes back up and fold them so there would be room for everything else.

Seeing the clothes folded reminded Rogue to keep his head while he gathered everything. Breakable objects were tucked between fabric like it was padding. Natsu didn't comment on the number of photos Rogue had chosen to bring with him. He was just helping Rogue until the boy could take care of himself again. He didn't need to give advice on handling a bad breakup.

He still felt like he had to do something when Rogue suddenly started crying.

"Do you have everything?"

Rogue nodded.

"Why don't we go then?"

Rogue kept his head bowed on the walk back to the train station. It was just as well that he wasn't paying any attention when Natsu purchased tickets, because that would make his spur of the moment surprise more of a surprise.

-o-

If he'd gotten motion sick again on the train ride back to Magnolia, Rogue had been too wrapped up in thought to notice. It wasn't until the train pulled into the station and he got off that he looked up and realized, "This isn't Magnolia."

"I thought you needed cheering up," Natsu told him.

The grin Natsu was sporting, which spread from ear to ear, did lighten Rogue's heart a little, but he still felt he needed to point out a flaw in Natsu's idea. "You do realize that all of these rides will have a warning not to get on them if pregnant, don't you?"

The grin slipped.

"Even if I weren't pregnant, I'm not interested in amusement parks. You can't expect me to believe you wouldn't get sick on anything here, can you?"

The grin completely vanished. Natsu looked to the amusement park, then to Rogue, then back to the park, and when he looked at Rogue again he shrugged and went up to the ticket booth, purchasing two tickets for one day entry.

"Come on!"

Rolling his eyes, Rogue gave up and followed Natsu into the park.

"Rogue, can Fro go on any of the rides," Frosch asked. "Fro's never been to an amusement park before."

Rogue hadn't spent much time in them himself, but it was to his understanding that you had to be a certain height to get on the rides, and Frosch wasn't really any height.

"We can go on the teacups," Happy told Frosch. "Lucy took me on them the last time we were here."

Frosch have Rogue the most adorable pleading look she could muster.

"You two have fun."

"You don't want to come?"

"It doesn't interest me."

"You're gloomy," Natsu let Rogue know.

Rogue shrugged, watching the exceed run off to enjoy the park that they hadn't been charged a single jewel to enter before asking Natsu "What do you expect us to do here?"

"Well, rides aren't an option. Usually these places have someone who draws caricatures."

"Not interested."

"Well, I think there's a fountain play area too."

"Not interested."

"Um… there's an open air theatre area. They have magic displays and animal shows throughout the day."

"Not interested."

"You can get your photo taken with one of the mascots."

"I'm not five."

"Forget gloomy, you're just boring." Natsu decided, giving up. "I think there's a churro vendor somewhere around here…" He'd just get himself one and find the cats. If Rogue didn't want to be cheered up then he could sulk by the gate.

"That doesn't sound awful."

"Churros?" Rogue wanted food? It was getting close to dinner time. "Well… how about we go to the food court instead? That's by the theater so if you want you can see the show and if what they're doing _really_ isn't interesting we can just ignore it and get snow cones." He thought about it for a second. "No. Snow cones either way. They'll just come faster if the show's no good."

Rogue nodded. He could deal with a bad show in the background. Right then he wanted nothing more than to stuff his face with fatty food and forget that he'd been accused of sleeping with Natsu a little over an hour ago.

If it occurred to Natsu that Rogue may have had such a thought process he didn't do anything about it. They got burgers and, after they polished those off and Rogue hinted that he wouldn't mind staying for Natsu to finish watching the show, a two person pizza. Both boys were licking the grease off their fingers when Happy and Frosch returned, upset to have missed dinner. A second pizza was purchased, which Natsu finished off when neither of the cats were able to eat it all.

As promised they got snow cones after that, even though it was now cool enough that there wasn't any great need for them. Rogue was ready to go home after that, but didn't want to tell Natsu he'd purchased expensive park tickets just to pay for overpriced junk food. He let Natsu drag him to some of the game booths as well.

"You just throw the darts and try to pop balloons," Natsu explains.

"I know how this game works," Rogue retorted. It was called Balloon Popping: 5 Darts for 100 Jewels. That was pretty self-explanatory, really.

Natsu tried it out first, and ended up with a sports team pennant that had been on the prize wrack since 767. Rogue threw less haphazardly, a big improvement from earlier in the day, and earned a teddy bear for his efforts.

"I don't suppose you have a guild mate who might want this," he said as they walked away.

"Lucy probably likes cute stuff like that," Happy suggested.

Natsu nodded. "I bet she does, but you should keep it, Rogue."

"I don't want a stuffed bear."

"But your kid might," Natsu pointed out.

That shut Rogue up.

He stayed silent, lost in thought, while Natsu, Happy, and Frosch all joked about him not having thought of that. Why should he have? He'd only found out he was pregnant a day before he told Sting. That whole time had been spent trying to figure out _how_ to tell Sting, and since telling him he'd been focusing on thinking about the whole mess as little as possible, Sting, pregnancy, and all.

He was going to have a _child_ in just eight months. The thought almost made him short of breath.

But… that wasn't bad was it? Frosch was cute but took a bit of work, and he loved her to pieces. An infant would be more work, but as long as he knew what it took it couldn't be too much for him to handle, could it? He was sure he'd cherish the baby-at least when they weren't crying. How often did they cry? Probably a lot.

"You listening?"

"Hm?"

Natsu laughed. "Nope. I was asking if you had a good time."

"Oh. Sure."

"Sure? You're just saying that so I'll think you had a good time."

"Thank you for your efforts," Rogue told him. "I will keep the bear."

Natsu nodded. "That'll make her happy."

"Her?"

"Your daughter."

"Is Fro getting a sister?"

"No," Rogue snapped, though he then had to amend that and say, "I don't know. It's too soon to tell the gender."

Frosch's persistent questions as they moved on to the next game were enough to draw a smile from Rogue, which warmed Natsu's heart to see. It fought of the chill that had settled in Natsu after seeing Sting. After seeing the way Sting had hissed and snapped at Rogue despite it being obvious that the poor thing was in no shape to be subjected to that. That had just been cruel.

But for whatever reason, what chilled Natsu the most hadn't been the cold way that Sting had spoken, but the look in his eyes. There'd been no coldness in his eyes. No jealousy. No hate. All Natsu had seen in Sting's eyes was pain.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a side note: this was written before the GMG arc finished. So there's some stuff that doesn't stick to canon because I had no idea it was coming. Like Sting being the guildmaster.

Old Fairy Tail members _were_ coming back, and new recruits were showing up too. In a matter of weeks they'd gone up to sixty members, and with only Rogue and Mira working around the guild that translated into way too much work. Add to that Natsu leaving all the house chores for Rogue and by dinner time he was ready to crawl into bed and pass out.

"But it can't be any harder than actually going out and fighting," Natsu argued when this was mentioned.

Rogue's mouth was full, so Frosch replied for him. "It's a lot of work. When Rogue and Sting fight it's really quick, but at the guild Rogue is running back and forth with files all day, and he has to make more trips than Mira because they don't let him carry a lot. Then at lunch time lots of people come in and Rogue has to bring them their food before he gets to eat."

Just thinking about it made Rogue hungry again, and he scooped another spoonful of stew into his mouth before saying, "At least I don't work the bar at night."

"It was nice of Mira to let you off before then," Natsu agreed. "Would you like seconds?"

He hadn't even noticed he was emptying the bowl. For as good as it was, Rogue didn't want to invite any eating for two jokes. He shook his head.

"Oh, alright. If you're tired, I can do dinner dishes tonight."

"Thank you."

"No problem," Natsu said, taking the bowl from Rogue's hands. "Happy, you want more?"

"Aye!"

Happy took the ladle and scooped himself a bowl's worth of rich, buttery beef stew. Rogue had never been so jealous of a cat before. Maybe it wasn't too late to change his mind…

Natsu dropped the used bowls into the sink and began looking for soap.

Giving up on food, Rogue went over to his bed and dug his pajamas out of the suitcase that served as his dresser until he had new furniture, and the space to store new furniture. Frosch waved to Happy, who obligingly looked away as Rogue began to strip out of his day clothes, but Natsu missed the cue.

"Oh, Rogue, if you want any desert you-Eh!" The scrub brush fell out if Natsu's hand as he turned and spotted Rogue's stomach. For a second neither moved, the Rogue grabbed his pajama top and yanked it over his head.

"You didn't see that."

But he had. Rogue's stomach wasn't huge. Just a bump, really, but if Rogue had looked anything like Sting underneath all those form concealing clothes before getting pregnant than the small outward curve was a huge change.

That must have been the case, because Rogue's cheeks were bright red with shame, and he hung his head so far down to avoid Natsu's gaze that his entire face was covered by his messy hair.

"Can I see it again?" Natsu asked. "That's the first time you've really looked pregnant. You never get sick or moody or anything."

"I get nauseas," Rogue argued half-heartedly.

"So can I see your stomach or not?"

"No. You're not even the father."

The thought stopped Natsu for a moment. Not that he wasn't the father, that had been pretty obvious and easy to accept from the get go. He wasn't the father, but Sting was. That asshole who hurt Rogue was the father of the baby Rogue was carrying, and that had to be something Rogue thought about. How often did he think of it? How often would he think of it when the baby started kicking? Natsu had only offered to let Rogue stay until he'd given birth. How often would he think of how Sting had abandoned him when he was in an apartment on his own, raising the child by himself and struggling to find a baby sitter whenever he needed to work?

Rogue was quiet, and maybe a little sharp tongued, but that didn't make him bad. He'd actually been pretty sweet since settling in. He'd dote on Frosch and even treat Happy like royalty from time to time, and if prompted about the guild would always only have nice things to say about them. He wasn't someone Natsu minded having agreed to help for so long at all. In fact, he was someone Natsu would like to have around for longer, if possible.

"Let me be the father then," Natsu decided. "And you can stay and raise the baby here, and I can see your stomach." And you'll stay with me, and I can get to make you talk more and more until I get to know all there is to know about you. He held off on saying that.

The offer took Rogue completely by surprise. Did Natsu even realize what he was sating? No, of course he didn't. He couldn't possibly know how much work a baby was-Rogue only had a general idea himself, and no experience with it. Besides, they barely knew one another.

"If it turns out I'm not a good dad, you can tell me and I won't be the father anymore," Natsu added. "I said you can stay until the baby's born, so I won't kick you out if you break up with me.

Rogue looked around at the dingy, one room home. Not what he had in mind for child rearing, but renovations weren't impossible. Cleaning it hadn't taken as many years as he thought it would, after all.

Natsu as the dad? Yeah, why not? Natsu was a good person, a wonderful person actually. If he was willing to let a near stranger move in with him then he'd at least try to be a good father. Parenting skills were something he had to consider now when looking for a new significant other, and someone who was putting an effort into it beat no one at all. He did seem a bit impulsive, but he was… nice. Living with Natsu wasn't awful, Natsu himself was anything but awful, and he didn't want to be a single parent. Besides, it wasn't a permanent agreement anyway.

"Alright."

"Alright?"

"You can be the father-legally." He didn't know if he needed to add that or not, but if he was insistent on the terminology now then that would cut down on the number of people in the near future that Natsu led to believe that _he_ was the one who'd gotten Rogue pregnant.

He was too absorbed in worries that he may have invited more accusations of him cheating on Sting to noticed Natsu grabbing his top, so all he could do was yelp is surprise when Natsu pulled it back up.

"I didn't realize you were growing. It's been two months now, right? How big is the baby right now? Did they tell you the last time you went to the hospital?"

"No," Rogue snapped, pulling his top back down. Getting set up at a new hospital was something he'd been putting off. As with going back to his old place, he could see Natsu applying pressure for that one in the near future.

"Does Rogue get to sleep now?" Frosch asked. "Fro wanted to get in bed with Rogue."

Both boys paused, remembering the reason they were on Rogue's mattress. Natsu stepped back and let Rogue finish changing and get under the cover, waiting until his new boyfriend was too close to sleep to catch him taking shortcuts washing the dishes. While Rogue drifted off he hummed to himself, making plans for how to start things off with such a big bang that Rogue would never even think of Sting again.

-o-

Rogue was less than pleased the next morning. Not only was he late for the job that the guild had been so generous to give him, but when Natsu had finally woken him up he'd made him stay to eat a full breakfast before dragging him to the guild. Not that there was anything wrong with getting breakfast, and Natsu cooking for him rather than him cooking for Sting was a nice change, and in all honesty the huge plate of bacon had made his mouth water, even if his stomach was churning afterward.

That was the real problem. Being dragged at Natsu's pace to the guild while all he wanted was to crawl over to the side of the road and hurl.

He made it to the guild without losing any of his breakfast, and was looking forward to sneaking into the record room and just curling up in a ball there until his morning sickness passed, but Natsu looped an arm around his and yelled to the whole guild, "Everyone! Guess who I'm dating!"

"Lucy?"

"Lisanna?"

"Gray!"

"Erza?"

Natsu stared blankly at the guild while they continued throwing out names, coming back to Gray a bit too often for his liking. Rogue was trying to tug his way out of Natsu's arm, so he gave up on letting them actually guess and announced, "Rogue and I are together now."

Silence.

Rogue bit his lip.

"What about Sting's kid?" Gajeel asked.

"I think the baby's due in April," Natsu responded.

"What are _you_ going to do about Sting's kid?" Gajeel elaborated. "You don't plan on raising it, do you?"

"Why not? I don't think Igneel got whoever had me pregnant and he was a great dad. Rogue's nice, so now we're together and I can be the baby's dad."

Silence again.

Rogue looked longingly to the door leading down to the records room. He wasn't supposed to get so much attention. He was just a shadow. Drawing everyone's eyes was Sting's job. They were all staring, at Natsu, at him, and he just wanted to curl up and hide.

"Congratulation," Mira said. "Does this mean Natsu gets to help pick the baby's name?"

The question took Rogue by surprise. A name? Natsu? "Y-yeah."

The guild erupted in noise, laughter, cheer, applause. It wasn't the first time the building had suddenly gotten so loud without warning, but it was the first time it had been because of Rogue, and that awareness made him flinch. He _did not_ like getting so much attention.

"Oy! Someone get the virgin stuff too. Rogue can't be having alcohol right now," he heard someone shout.

Alcohol? They were drinking over him and Natsu deciding to be a couple? At the start of the day?

That might not be too bad, Rogue thought. Maybe if they drank enough they'd forget about their collective goal of staring at him.

"Isn't this a great guild?" Natsu asked as the impromptu party got underway.

"It's a bit much," Rogue admitted.

Natsu laughed and led Rogue to an empty seat. People cheered as they passed by, clapping whichever one was closer on the back. Rogue was trembling by the time they reached the bench.

"You alright?"

"There are too many people," Rogue muttered, wide eyes staring out at everyone, and everyone staring back at him. He wasn't doing anything special. He wasn't competing. He wasn't helping Sting put on a show. He was just being led around by Natsu. Why did they keep staring?

"Then you might like my surprise," Natsu said, digging in his pocket. He produced two tickets, which he handed to Rogue. "Happy and I went out and bought these last night after you went to bed. They're for the nicest hotel I could book rooms in-I wanted to start this off right. It'll just be the two of us."

"Natsu, these reservations are for February."

Despite the twitch of his eyebrow, Rogue found that to be a relief. Another little moment of Natsu stupidity to help calm him down. Agreeing to the relationship might not have been a dumb move after all, if Natsu had that effect on him. He'd have leaned over and rested his head on Natsu's shoulder, soaking in his soothing effect, but Rogue _was_ still aware of the eyes on him.

"Crap. I'm sorry. Will you be able to go to a hotel then?"

"As long as there aren't any complications it shouldn't be an issue. It looks nice."

"Yeah… I really wanted this to be a big surprise though. I made sure to pack all your things while you were eating this morning. I was going to have Happy bring our bags to the train station and we could be there tonight…"

"It's fine," Rogue assured him. "I'd be happy just to go down to the lake."

"Really?" Natsu's face lit up. "We'll do that then. Go to the lake. I'll wait for you to finish your work, okay?"

Rogue nodded and got up, feeling a few heads swerve his way again, and made a B-line for the records room.

"Oh, Rogue!" Mira called. "Hey! I just finished getting games set up. You can take it easy this morning. Play with everyone."

Yay. Rogue sighed and walked back over to Natsu, sitting a little closer than before. "Could we possibly go now?"

That made Natsu laugh. He reached out and pulled Rogue in closer to him, just in case the boy tried to run away, and said, "Maybe after a few of Mira's games?"

Rogue squirmed. It wasn't a scenario _worth_ the force it would take to get away from Natsu, but he didn't want to stick around anyway. When slipping out of Natsu's arm proved impossible he gave up and leaned back against him, but with Natsu making the problem worse it didn't have the same effect as before. "I don't want all this attention," he insisted.

Natsu's knitted his eyebrows, realizing that this was in fact an issue but failing to comprehend how. He'd known he was starting something with a less sociable person than he was, but he hadn't thought Rogue couldn't _handle_ large social gatherings. Hopefully it was only an issue when Rogue was the focus of them. They had a lot of getting to know one another to do in the near future.

Although seeing Rogue cling to him like that was oddly adorable…

"Natsu…"

"Alright," Natsu whispered, "We'll go up to the second floor for a bit. It's usually emptier up there. We can leave after we've given everyone the impression that we're here whether they see us or not."

It wasn't the type of running right out that Rogue had hoped for, but it was better than nothing.

-o-

It was too late to watch the sunrise, and much too early for a sunset, but it still looked pleasant. Natsu had been hoping to have Rogue lean against him again like he had in the guild, but away from all the attention Rogue settled back into his usual calm self and sat a good five feet away from Natsu.

Natsu looked over at Rogue, waiting for him to say something, but Rogue seemed to be content staring out at the surface of the water.

"So if you don't like attention, why did you compete in the games?" Natsu finally asked.

"Because Sting and I always ended up coming out for the same event," Rogue replied. "I was never the only member of Sabertooth on the field. And because I never participated in random events, only the battles. If people are going to focus on me, I would rather it be interest in a battle than… a relationship."

The explanation didn't make much sense to Natsu, but if Rogue thought it was a good enough explanation it probably was. He scooted an inch closer before asking something else. "Those parties the guild throws wouldn't bug you if you weren't the center of attention, would they?"

"No, but I wouldn't be interested in participating either way."

Another inch. "Well, what does interest you?"

"Would you prefer it if I sat closer?"

"Ah… I was being that obvious?"

Rogue nodded and stood up, walking over to Natsu's side before sitting back down.

Neither spoke, Rogue looking out at the water again and Natsu staring at Rogue, wondering what the heck Rogue could be thinking about while he looked out at the water.

"I'm sorry," Rogue said suddenly.

"For what?" Natsu asked. "You mean leaving the guild like that? If you were uncomfortable-"

Rogue shook his head, but immediately contradicted himself by saying, "That. And also… Sting always told me I'm just not good… with this sort of thing…"

"Talking?"

"I can talk, Natsu."

"You're not much for conversation though," Natsu pointed out, trying to keep his voice even. It hadn't been that long since the breakup, but it would have been nice if Rogue could have refrained from mentioning Sting on their first full day as a couple. "Well, Laxus is kind of awkward, but he's not bad. So you're not overly social. Just lean on my shoulder like earlier and we can be boring and watch the water without saying anything, and it'll be a nice date."

"Date…?" Right. If he and Natsu were together than going out to the lake together like that _was_ a date, wasn't it. "Alright."

Natsu's shoulder wasn't soft, and it took Rogue a bit of awkward shuffling around to get into a comfortable position leaning against his new boyfriend. The way Natsu tried with equally awkward effort to keep from disturbing him was sweet. Sweeter than Sting had been on an average day. Maybe Natsu wouldn't try as hard once they were used to one another, but until then it would probably be nice.

Real nice…

Rogue drifted off.

When Natsu noticed Rogue had fallen asleep he went completely still, not wanting to move him at all in case he happened to wake up. He looked cute when he was asleep, his usually stern expression relaxed, closer to the gentle looks he gave Frosch, and his lips parted just the slightest bit in a way that begged for someone to take advantage of him while his guard was at its lowest. Natsu had already seen it, having spent the past few weeks sharing a one room house with Rogue, but this was the first time he'd seen Rogue's sleeping face from close up.

How could Sting have gotten rid of _that_?

Natsu tried to look back out at the lake, but his eyes kept being drawn back to Rogue's lips. It wasn't, he had to admit, a powerful attraction to Rogue so much as a desire to fluster him-no matter how cute his sleeping face was. Waking Rogue up with a kiss just sounded like too much fun. They were dating, weren't they? Would that make it okay to kiss Rogue, or would it get him dumped before they'd even spent a full day together?

Eventually, Natsu settled for shaking Rogue slightly and waiting for him to stir.

"You fell asleep," he said when Rogue looked up at him.

Rogue mumbled some excuse that had to do with being pregnant and got to his feet before asking, "What time is it?"

Neither of them had a watch, but looking up at the sky Natsu guessed, "Around noon. You said the lake is fine, but I feel like that wasn't much. Maybe we could go somewhere for lunch too."

"We've already been eating lunch together," Rogue pointed out.

Natsu didn't really know how to argue with that one, largely because it's how he would have responded to such a proposal, but he had to try anyway. "In Lucy's books this was something people did when they were couples."

It was also something Sting had insisted was special. Rogue shrugged. "If you want…"

"Alright. I can't take you to a nice hotel for a while, so let's fine a nice restaurant instead," Natsu cheered, taking Rogue's arm and leading him back into town.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> innocentmugen drew a little comic version of Natsu catching Rogue with his tummy showing here: innocentmugen.tumblr.com/post/106247167943/because-i-also-ship-natsu-x-rogue-i-drew-my


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I like to plan stories out chapter by chapter before writing them, but sometimes I don't stick to the plan. Originally, this was supposed to be two chapters.

Rogue had spent two weeks tolerating Natsu's behavior before he put his foot down and insisted that _no_ , Natsu was _not_ allowed to spend his free time helping around the guild because he was _driving Rogue insane_ hanging that close at all times, and the way he jumped up to carry anything Rogue was reaching for was only breaking _everything_ Rogue was trying to handle. While Natsu's response, that he was only trying to help Rogue and wanted to be a good boyfriend, had been sweet enough to curb Rogue's temper, it hadn't changed his mind. He was already going to have a hard enough time repaying Natsu for giving him a job, a place to stay, and a distraction from Sting. Besides, if Natsu kept trying to help than _he'd_ have a hard time repaying the guild for all the dishes he was breaking.

So the two had returned to their previous manners while around one another, with Rogue quietly going about his business and Natsu noisily taking care of his, with the exception that Rogue would occasionally sneak a glance at Natsu-though never when Natsu was looking over to make sure Rogue was still okay. None of his symptoms had ever been that severe, but whenever Rogue mentioned a hospital, even if it was just for his bi-monthly check up, Natsu felt his heart race.

It wasn't a pattern Natsu liked all that much. He'd never been close to someone who was so distant before, but Rogue was content with it, and if it made Rogue happy then Natsu was happy too. Besides, after Natsu had complained about the lack of standard couple behaviors between the two one night at dinner, Rogue had taken to kissing Natsu on the cheek as a thank you for meals. He'd made sure since then to get up first so he'd have time to make breakfast for both of them and pack Rogue a lunch.

Gray had caught wind of that on the third week after the two started dating, and had teased Natsu for such a wife-like habit and asked if he was the girl in the relationship. He had promptly been silenced by the rest of the guild, who reminded him that Rogue was the one who was pregnant. Natsu didn't really care either way. Thanks to Lisanna he'd gotten good at cooking some time ago, and Rogue was receptive to food offerings. Those quickly masked looks of delight whenever Natsu made something that Rogue couldn't get over the smell of made his heart skip a beat, and the little things Rogue would do around the house as a thank you-although he would never say as much-left a smile on Natsu's face when he went out for work.

He'd been trying to take shorter jobs since Rogue had moved in with him, and was carefully tracking the dates, so when he saw the perfect job he was relieved that it got him back in time for the big day he was planning.

"There's something special about today?" Rogue asked when Natsu burst through the door declaring so, having just returned from his job.

"It's our one month anniversary."

"You realize the _anni_ part in anniversary refers to _annual_ , don't you?" Rogue asked. "There is no _annual_ one month event."

"This is a couple thing. We don't get to hold hands, so you have to do this instead." When Rogue looked like he still needed to consider whether or not to go along with it Natsu added, "I was going to take you out to eat, but if you don't want to go, I'll just let Happy know he doesn't have to stay home after all and we can go without you."

Rogue scowled. Dumb name or not, he didn't want to be left out of a milestone celebration for his own relationship. He moved Frosch off of his lap and got up. "Where are we going?"

Natsu said, "I didn't have anything in mind. I thought we could just wander around town until we found something we liked."

We meant you, which they both knew and refused to say. Natsu would eat anything. It was Rogue who had developed a habit of snubbing foods at random, regardless of whether or not he'd eaten them before.

Having been there for two months, Rogue was familiar with Magnolia. He led the way to a diner that he'd always thought looked pleasant, not to mentioned gave rather generous servings. As he got within smelling distance of his destination however his mind threw on the breaks.

"Changed your mind?" Natsu asked when Rogue came to a halt.

Rogue nodded, glancing away so his blush, however faint it might be, wouldn't be visible to his boyfriend.

"Well, let's just keep looking."

Natsu took Rogue past a few of his favorite spots next, with mixed results. The burger joint, pasta restaurant, and steak house all got the same hesitant reaction as the diner had. When they got close to an oriental place Rogue mentioned that he'd actually never liked the stuff, which was still a better response than when Natsu had taken him to a small place that specialized in sweet and sour dishes. Not only had Rogue completely rejected it, but when someone had walked out of the restaurant while they looked at the building and the scent of their trademark sweet and sour sauce hit the two Rogue had doubled over and retched.

"…Should we clean that up?"

"Um… someone else can take care of it," Natsu decided. "Let's get you out of here."

Rogue nodded, blush much more apparent now. "Sorry."

"It's not your fault. Come on. There must be _something_ in town that appeals to you."

They ended up in a discount pizza parlor.

"Sorry," Rogue repeated when Natsu tipped the table over to roll all the leftover crumbs from the previous three or four patrons off onto the floor.

"Pizza's nice too," Natsu dismissed.

After the fuss Rogue had made over food up until then Natsu had expected him to order every standard topping, plus ice cream sprinkles, mayo, corn-still on the cob-and maybe even a raw egg, but Rogue was happy with a standard cheese pizza.

The silence while they waited for their order made Natsu uncomfortable. If it was someone else at the guild he'd have told them about his job, but he'd seen Rogue occasionally give the jobs board a wistful look and was still trying his best to be sensitive around his boyfriend. Once Rogue was able to work again they'd have to find someone (Wendy?) to look after the kid and the two of them could go on jobs together. Until then Natsu wasn't sure whether or not Rogue would like to be told about all the work he wasn't allowed to do.

What else could he talk about? Rogue's day, as Rogue had no trouble pointing out, was rarely ever interesting. When something did happen, it was usually something Natsu dragged him into. "So…" What was something he could ask Rogue about. Natsu scanned him over for any points of interest. "You… got new clothes recently?"

Rogue shook his head. "I brought these from ho-from… Sting's… I was putting off wearing them."

Rogue's wardrobe wasn't very form fitting anyway. He was wearing the same top he'd been in when he first showed up at Natsu's in the rain. The pants we definitely much looser though. "You're-uh-I mean… the baby's getting bigger?"

"Yes, Natsu." He couldn't tell if Rogue was amused or annoyed by the slip up.

He waited a moment to see if Rogue had anything sarcastic to say before asking, "How is the baby then? Do you know the gender yet?"

Rogue shook his head. "The hospital's policy is not to reveal the gender until the sixteenth week. I think I don't want to know, though."

"But won't you find out when it's born?"

" _No_."

"…Oh. You _want_ to find out then," Natsu realized. "How are you going to have a name ready?"

"I will pick a name for if the baby is a girl, and a name for if the baby is a boy," Rogue explained with exaggerated patience, "Then when the baby is born I will give it whichever name corresponds with its gender."

In truth Natsu was amusing the heck out of Rogue, but Natsu interpreted Rogue's tone as annoyance and bit his lip, thinking long and hard before speaking again.

"So the baby is healthy then? You didn't mention any issues?"

"So far there aren't any."

"How big is the baby?"

"Would you like to come to my next appointment?"

The sudden question startled both of them, though with his indifferent expression and even tone it seemed like Rogue was just offering so Natsu could pester the doctor instead.

"I… yeah… sure!"

The waitress set down their pizza in front of them, giving Rogue a wink before returning to the kitchen.

"What was that about?" Natsu asked.

"I don't know," Rogue told him.

They stared at the door for a moment before the one who was eating for two decided that the food was much more interesting than the waitress had been and served himself a slice.

-o-

As a way of showing that he paid attention to what Rogue said he did or didn't like, Natsu took him down to the lake after dinner. Rogue, to show his appreciation for the gesture, rested his head on Natsu's shoulder without being asked.

"It looks nicer this time," he muttered.

"It does," Natsu realized. "We should come down here more often. This is our spot now."

"Our spot… huh…?"

Natsu cringed. "Did you and Sting have a spot?" It always had something to do with Sting when Rogue spoke slowly.

But Rogue shook his head. "Never. Our spot… I like that."

"I like it too." Natsu wrapped an arm around Rogue's shoulder and rested his head on Rogue's. He waited just long enough for the moment to feel perfect before saying, "When we were little, this is where Gray and I came to beat one another up."

Rogue tried his hardest not to, but the absurdity of the statement, especially when meshed with the previous mood and the scenic way the water caught the setting sun, was too much. He doubled over in a fit of laughter.

"So you _can_ laugh?"

Rogue couldn't get the air in to respond to that.

Maybe Rogue wasn't lovey dovey or interested in things like holding hands or couple nicknames, and maybe he didn't want to always socialize with the rest of the guild and get involved in their impromptu celebrations with Natsu. So what? It wasn't like he forbid Natsu from having a social life outside of him, and their moments alone felt… perfect.

He said as much, and Rogue intertwined his fingers with Natsu's, "Just this once," and went back to leaning on his shoulder.

Natsu let the moment feel perfect again, then he stayed silent, stretching that perfect moment on until the sun had disappeared into the horizon.

"We should get home," Rogue decided. "Frosch will get worried soon."

"You stayed awake this time," Natsu teased.

"You showed me a nice time today. Don't ruin it," Rogue advised.

It had been a nice day. Wonderful even. If he'd had any worries that he'd been hasty in starting a relationship with a pregnant boy he barely knew, he had no doubts now that offering to be Rogue's new boyfriend was one of the best things he'd ever done. Natsu felt giddy the whole time they walked home, certain that even if he did continue to pester Rogue, nothing would ruin their wonderful day.

He hadn't accounted for Sting standing outside their house when they got back.


	5. Chapter 5

Aside from Frosch waving in the window nobody moved. Rogue and Natsu stared at Sting and he stared back. A minute passed. Two minutes. Then Sting got down on his knees and bowed so deeply his forehead touched the dirt.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I screwed up."

Any protest, any scolding, any sort of acceptance of the apology, any complaint that a simple sorry wasn't enough, even a relieved sigh to see that Sting didn't hate him, died in Rogue's throat as emotions clashed inside of him, different voices in his head all demanding he react in some conflicting way. Natsu was not as stunned.

"You _did_ screw up."

"I know." Sting straightened back up, but didn't stand. "I'm sorry, Rogue. I was an idiot. I should have had more faith in you."

Why? Why was he there? Rogue blinked back tears, trying to find an explanation for what was happening. Sting was back. Sting was apologizing. Sting was apologizing without _any_ arm twisting. How had he gone from hissing and glaring to this? There had to be a reason.

Did he care what the reason was? Sting was apologizing. Sting… wanted him back, right?

"Well, _he_ shouldn't have _any_ faith in _you_!" Natsu snarlled. "What the hell is wrong with you? Your lover tells you he's pregnant and you _kick him out_? It rained enough to flood Lucy's place that night! What if someone hadn't taken Rogue in? What if he'd gotten sick? He could have died! He and _your child_ could have died!" It was hard to tell if Sting or Rogue looked more stupefied to have this pointed out to them, but Natsu ignored their shock and continued with his rant. "He wasn't even expecting to find someone who'd take him in for more than one night. What if I hadn't found out he needed work, and he wasn't able to get hired anywhere? If Rogue had gone to anyone else asking to stay for the night he might be homeless somewhere right now, and then he wouldn't be in any sort of shape to put up with your shit and the baby would have probably died anyway." He paused. "Not that Rogue's really in a good shape to put up with you anyway. I hope your happy knowing he can't even think of what you did without losing his voice."

The tirade left Natsu panting, cheeks red with rage.

Rogue took a step back, partially out of concern that Natsu might combust and partially because Natsu was right. For as thrilled as he was to see Sting again… No. He didn't even care about all the worst case scenarios that Natsu had saved him from. For as thrilled as he was to see Sting again the simple fact that Sting had the nerve to have accused him of sleeping with someone else was reason enough not to run back to him.

"You're right," Sting said once he found his voice again. "You're completely right. I put Rogue in danger when I made him leave. It was stupid of me. I just thought… but I was wrong, and it was wrong of me to have done that to him. I'm sorry. I'm _so_ sorry, Rogue."

"I'm sorry too," Rogue told him. "I'm with Natsu now."

"He told me." Pure misery flashed in Sting's eyes, but he quickly turned his gaze downward to hide it. "I…" The question of _when_ they got together jumped to the front of Sting's mind, but asking that while apologizing for assuming Rogue had cheated on him was probably a bad idea. "If there's anything I can do to make this up to you, I-"

"You can leave," Natsu told him. "It's our one month anniversary. You're ruining it."

The numbers all crunched a bit too fast in Sting's mind for him to keep up with what was happening, and before he could stop himself he blurted out, "You two slept together before you even started going out?"

The hurt in Rogue's eyes, at having been accused again in such a short amount of time… actually didn't match Sting's. He had Rogue had been together for _years_. Rogue had handed him a 'check yes or no' request for them to date as soon as they were old enough to get the basic idea of it. Rogue had taken things that far and that fast with Natsu after spurning Sting's advanced for years?

"I don't see why that matters," Natsu said.

In the part of his mind that hadn't gone numb, Rogue pieced the situation together, and realizing where the accusation kept his throat from constricting too tightly for him to speak. "We didn't."

"You… didn't?"

"We didn't," Rogue insisted. "Natsu and I shared a bed the first night, but we haven't had sex."

Natsu sputtered. " _That's_ what he was talking about? H-he should have made it obvious!"

"From context I assumed it was," Sting muttered.

It ought to have been, Rogue silently agreed. It was almost like Natsu had deliberately made Sting's confusion over the situation worse, which was silly. The only chance Natsu would have had to talk to Sting was while he was still of the opinion that he and Rogue needed to make up. What had changed his mind anyway? Seeing how Sting had acted? The two of them hooking up?

"I'm sorry," Sting said when neither Natsu nor Rogue said anything. "I… I'm only making this worse, aren't I?"

"You are," Natsu assured him.

Rogue thought that getting that cleared up had actually improved things quite a bit, but held his tongue.

Sting rose to his feet, back at eye level with Rogue, though his eyes were still downcast. "If our child-"

"It's not _your_ child anymore," Natsu told him, despite having emphasized that it was earlier. "You gave up that right." To make sure Sting got the point, Natsu pulled Rogue in and held him close.

Sting swallowed back a wave of nausea at sight of Rogue, who would have slugged _him_ for trying something like that, allowing Natsu to hold him in such a way. Rogue, of course, was still processing things too slowly with a half numb mind to realize he ought to be protesting the way Natsu was pulling him around, and would have aimed a kick for Natsu's family jewels had he been close enough to his right mind to object to being used to hurt Sting like that, regardless of accusations and apologies.

And it really hurt him. Sting took a step back, then a second, and when he hit the wall of Natsu's house on his third step he turned and bolted into the woods. So long as Natsu and Rogue didn't know that the crashing sounds were him _actually_ crashing into objects that didn't register in his blurry vision, he didn't care if they heard it.

-o-

"Does this mean Fro doesn't get to play with Lector anymore?"

"I'm afraid not," Rogue told Frosch. "You like Happy, though, don't you? And Carla and Lily?"

"Fro really likes Lily. He gives Fro fruit that are one color on the outside and another on the inside."

"That's good," Rogue said. "I don't think we'll see much of Sting anymore." And he was going to keep reminding himself that not seeing Sting was also good.

"That bastard hurt Rogue way too badly," Natsu growled.

"Even though he only did it because he thought Rogue had hurt him," Happy said.

That was the last thing said that night. Natsu, still fuming, turned out the lights and felt his way to his hammock while Rogue changed into pajamas in the dark. He tried not to focus on Happy's comment as he crawled into bed, but the words kept replaying in the front of his mind. Sting had hurt him. Sting had hurt him worse than Rogue had known he could be hurt, hurt him so bad that the pain was all he could think of when his mind drifted to Sting.

Which was why he hadn't thought of was that _something_ had to have allowed for Sting to think Rogue had cheated on him. Sting had always been trusting of Rogue before, and for him to suddenly decide that there was another man Rogue was seeing behind his back… meant that the confusion was probably Rogue's fault.

Sting had hurt him worse than he'd know he could be hurt. There was nothing lower than being told by someone he'd loved for so long that he wasn't wanted anymore. But how badly had Sting been hurt being led to believe that someone _he'd_ loved for so long didn't think he was enough anymore?

Rogue didn't want to think about any of it, because he didn't want to have to admit that he was lying to himself. He didn't know if Sting would try to come back again, but even if Natsu was sweet and caring and trying his best to be what Rogue wanted, Rogue hoped he _would_ come back. He lay awake all night in the mattress Natsu had bought him and wished he could listen to the blond sleeping next to him again.

He could have had that back. Those little moments where he watched Sting sleep, face free of that obnoxious pride. He could have gone baack to listening to that high and mighty voice that dropped down to a friendly, teasing tone that Sting had reserved special for him.

Rogue sighed and buried his face in his pillow, and for the first time since he'd packed his things wished he'd grabbed his old pillow while rushing to get his packing over with, the one that had the scent of Sting's shampoo from those nights when he'd crawled into bed with Rogue, pretending the next morning that a neighbor had been too noisy for him to sleep on his side of the house even though their neighbors had moved out over a year ago. There was a photo under his pillow from one of his first dates with Sting. He hadn't been able to give up those memories. Not yet.

In the dark it was hard to make out, even for a dragon slayer's enhanced vision, but Rogue pulled the picture out and looked at it, recalling when it had been taken. They'd been trying that dinner date thing that Sting and seen some of the older guild members doing. He'd insisted they get a photo of their first meal together that was actually probably one of the thousandth times they'd eaten together, and their hundred-and-somethingeth time they'd eaten dinner together at a restaurant, but because they were a couple it was somehow special that time, so Sting had handed the waiter a camera and asked him to take a picture when their food came out. Sting hadn't been able to wait for the man to snap the shot and begun digging in, so his mouth was stuffed in the image.

The memory made Rogue chuckle, and he placed the photo back under his pillow, feeling a little warmer about Sting. Feeling a little more open to the idea of hearing him out.

But he was with Natsu. He'd told Sting so himself. He was Natsu's boyfriend, and for wishing for the person who put him through so much trouble rather than the one who rescued him, he was the worst boyfriend ever.


	6. Chapter 6

Rogue stared stupidly at the shards at his feet, not even thinking to move when the beer those shards had once restrained began to spread out and reached his shoes, soaking in and promising to make them reek to high heaven for weeks. That was the third order he'd dropped and they'd only just begun serving alcohol for the day.

"Is it a problem with Natsu?" Mira asked as she came over with a mop and a bin for the broken glass.

"Is… what?"

"You seem distracted is all," she told him. "Natsu was looking forward to taking you out yesterday. Did something go wrong?"

The image of Sting, unable to keep his pained expression masked, running from him and Natsu like that was all it took to make the situation go away, flashed through Rogue's mind. "You could say that." Mira gave him a look that said that wasn't enough. He obliged her and added, "Sting showed up."

"Oh my." Natsu had kept nothing about Rogue's situation secret from the guild, so she could only guess as to how that had gone. She patted him sympathetically on the shoulder before bending down to pick up the shards. Rogue debated protesting the gesture before getting down as well to help her. It was _his_ mess after all.

His mess… if he _had_ done something to make Sting think he was unfaithful, that meant the situation with Sting and Natsu was _his_ mess too.

Rogue sighed and tossed another piece of glass into the bin.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Mira asked.

"I don't want to _think_ about it," Rogue declared, getting up and grabbing the mop so he'd maybe be a little further from someone who was making it harder not to think of.

"But you are thinking about it," she pointed out, "Or else you wouldn't be breaking so many glasses. What happened? Was he… he wasn't telling you off again, was he?"

"No…" Rogue grabbed the mop and got to work soaking up beer. "He was apologizing."

"That was good of him," Mira said. She hastily grabbed up a chunk of glass before Rogue could sweep it aside before adding, "So you two are friends again?"

Rogue shook his head. "Natsu chased him off. I'm not sure… I _do_ like Sting still, even if I shouldn't. It's just… I'm not even sure if I shouldn't."

"That sounds tricky. Maybe if you-"

"Oy!" One of the more recent returning members, Miki, shouted, "Is my drink ever coming?"

"Just a minute!" Mira called. Taking the mop from Rogue she smiled sympathetically and said, "You take the day off. I can cover for you here." When Rogue tried to protest she held a finger up to silence him. "I'll be fine. As it is you're actually creating more work for me anyway."

"I… right. Sorry."

"Don't worry about it. Just fret over how to handle the situation with Sting. Go beat something up in frustration. Get yourself ice cream. Whatever works."

-o-

Ice cream had sounded like a good idea. Mid October there were no places on the street where you could buy it on a stick, but there was one ice cream parlor in town. It was a bit of a walk from Fairy Tail, but once the idea had been put in Rogue's head he couldn't say it didn't sound delicious enough to be worth the distance.

At twelve weeks his stomach stuck out just enough to confirm the rumor going around town that he was pregnant, but it had been a wide enough spread rumor within his first few weeks in town that Rogue was used to the teasing and 'help' it got him by then. After he patiently explained to the girl running the parlor that he did _not_ want to try basil flavored ice cream and would rather just have vanilla (and no, adding pickles would ruin it) he paid for his cone and went out to enjoy his treat on a bench in the cool autumn air.

Maybe he could wash that down with hot chocolate…

Rogue was in the middle of convincing himself that he was already putting on enough weight and did _not_ need to indulge in more sweets when Sting sat down beside him.

"I thought you left."

"I'm renting a hotel room." Sting paused, hoping that didn't sound like an invite. When Rogue showed no signs of being bothered by the comment, though he was blatantly trying to hide his discomfort over Sting's presence, he continued. "I… is it alright if I talk to you… here… like this?"

"I don't think Natsu would be pleased."

"Right. Natsu…" Sting looked away while until he was able to compose himself again. "I promise, I just want to talk."

Talking might help, Rogue couldn't deny that. It might also make things worse on Natsu's end. "I don't think I should," Rogue decided, getting up to leave.

"Please!" Sting cried, getting up and grabbing Rogue's sleeve. "Please, Rogue. Just… I won't…"

Rogue looked down at Sting's hand. Grabbing his _sleeve_. While he could tolerate it if it made others happy, he wasn't much of one for physical affection and he hated being manhandled. No matter how many times he dropped that hint for Natsu, he'd still end up having his arm yanked here and there. Sting had thought to just tug his clothes enough to get his notice.

It was stupid to get emotional over such a simple gesture, but Rogue felt a lump rise in his throat.

"Please, Rogue," Sting repeated. "I just want to talk for a little while. If you don't want me around afterward then I'll go."

Rogue thought about it, and shook his head. "I'm getting cold. I don't want to stand out here for a long talk."

But he hadn't said he wasn't interested. Sting's shoulders sagged in relief and without thinking about it he dropped his desperate tone and switched to the friendlier one he'd usually used with Rogue. "That's probably because you decided to eat ice cream, stupid."

They both froze, stunned by how easy, how familiar, that had sounded. Rogue swallowed to try and force down that lump that was rising again.

"Um…" Sting let go of Rogue's sleeve and took a step back. "Maybe we can go somewhere warm? It's a little early for lunch, but we could get a meal and talk over that, my treat. N-n-not as a date. Just… uh…"

Rogue looked around. He'd left the lunch Natsu had made him back at the guild, which was way on the other side of town. That diner he hadn't been able to go to with Natsu, by chance, happened to be one street over. The idea of Sting treating him was a little odd after they'd spent so long sharing funds, but he _did_ want to talk, and a free meal was a good excuse. "Alright. There's somewhere you can take me."

"Thank you."

"Don't. You're the one paying."

Sting laughed at that and followed Rogue to the diner. Whatever smell Rogue had objected to only yesterday wasn't bothering him now, and he and Sting took a seat in a window booth, ordering the house special before the waitress could even ask what they wanted and shuffling about in their seats awkwardly once she left.

When she returned with their drinks Rogue nursed his water like it was a barrel of cheep beer. Sting downed his drink like it was in a shot glass. The end result was that Rogue's drink looked untouched and Sting's shirt looked wet.

"Minerva cut her hair," Sting said suddenly, taking Rogue by surprise. "It's a lot shorter now. You almost wouldn't recognize her, except that she acts just as bad as before. I think she did it just because the master commented on liking how long it was. It's weird that she'd try to pester him like that, isn't it? I think she looks cuter with it short."

"Uh…" Rogue had no words. He'd been bracing himself for more apologies and explanations, not guild gossip.

"Actually, she was really mad at me after I had to admit that you'd left. You never sent the guild a notice that you were leaving. Since I wasn't talking about it they were starting to think I'd murdered you or something." Sting laughed at that. "I think at any given point you'd have been more likely to kill me, though."

Probably true. Rogue would have acknowledge that, but there was something he was more concerned with than whether or not he had it in him to suffocate Sting when he was being a pain. "You aren't going to keep apologizing?"

Sting didn't seem the least bit surprised by the question. He shook his head and said, "I already said I was sorry, didn't I?"

"And you think last night was enough to make up for it?" Rogue asked, annoyed.

"No. I'm not _that_ stupid. Saying sorry and getting chewed out by Natsu didn't make up for anything. But if I kept saying sorry today, would that be enough?"

"Of course not!"

Sting nodded. "I turned on you at a time when you needed me most. I can say sorry for the rest of my life, but you already know I'm sorry, and saying it any more won't make up for what I did. It certainly won't change the fact that I did it. I'll think of something to really make up for it. In the meantime… I just want you not to hate me for it. All apologizing more would do is keep what happened at the front of your mind. I'd rather you remember something more pleasant about me, so I thought… maybe we could just talk about normal things. The sort of conversations we'd have if we were… just… friends."

Just friends. The words made Rogue's heart clench, but it tidied everything up perfectly in his mess of a love life. He nodded his approval.

Sting kept talking after that, catching Rogue up on everything that had happened at Sabertooth since he left. Everything _but_ what Sting himself had been doing, but Rogue decided not to comment on that. If Natsu hadn't been there to cheer him up Rogue would have spent that time sulking about Sting, and if Sting was trying to avoid making him think about what happened between them…

Their food came. A beef barley soup that smelled heavenly and a salad with anchovies that would drive the cats nuts when they smelled it on Rogue's breath. They took a break from the conversation to eat. Rogue finished first, and Sting stopped trying to blow on his soup to cool it down to ask, "How have thing's been going for you?" His eyes drifted down to Rogue's stomach "How's your… the guild?"

"Fine."

"No details?"

Rogue sighed. "It's fine. I can't go on jobs, so I help take meal orders and file records and my life has never been so dull."

"That does sound dull… so… nothing's… um…"

"You're allowed to ask about the bab-"

"How's your kid?" Sting asked before Rogue had even finished granting permission.

Rogue rolled his eyes. "It's _yours_ too."

It became eerily silent between them, because two days ago Sting hadn't believed it was his. Two days ago…

"Natsu said-"

"Natsu offered to help me raise the baby," Rogue informed him. "Given the current situation, he will likely be a larger part of its life than you are." And why did that bother him so much? "Regardless, you are still the father."

"Right..." Sting looked down. "How… how's our kid?"

"Just fine. There aren't any health concerns. Because I'm not the gender the hospital is used to dealing with they make me come in more often, but they haven't told me the baby's gender yet."

"That's good… have you thought of a name?"

"Not yet."

"And my suggestions don't count for much, do they?"

Rogue shrugged. "As long as it sounds nice I'd listen to an idea from anyone."

"How about Alex? Either way it-"

The window burst, glass shards flying across the table. Sting had just a moment to regret not finishing his meal in time before Natsu's fist connected with his chin. The blond tumbled out of the booth and rolled back onto his feet, positioning for battle.

Natsu sprang at him again, fire enveloping his fist as he rushed at Sting, who was readying his own magic and braced for battle.

But the battle never happened. Before Natsu could distance himself from the table Rogue reached out and grabbed his scarf, yanking him back against the wood with all his might.

"Rogue!" Natsu cried.

"I like this place," Rogue told him. "You two aren't allowed to wreck it."

The growl deep in Natsu's throat ebbed away when he saw blood trickling from the hand Rogue wasn't using to hold onto his scarf. He'd pressed it up against a piece of glass when he reached out to stop him. Maybe wrecking the building wasn't a huge concern for Natsu, but putting Rogue in the crossfire was. He mumbled something in objection to letting Sting go, but let his magic disperse.

Sting stayed on guard while the two argued.

"Why did you let him get close to you?"

"He wanted to talk."

"I don't like this."

"I don't like you breaking into Lucy's during the middle of the night, but I don't attack her for it and that activity actually includes a bed."

"But that's just harassing her!"

"And Sting just wanted to talk."

"You two were getting a meal-"

"I forgot to bring my lunch with me. He offered to pay if I was willing to talk."

Natsu blinked, rage forgotten for the moment. "You take food bribes?"

Rogue scowled. It was _not_ a food bribe. It was him taking advantage of an offer for food and agreeing to give something in return.

"I should go," Sting decided while Natsu was still calm. "It was nice catching up with you."

It had been an attempt at leaving before Natsu could get mad again, but hearing Sting's voice reminded Natsu that he had been mad, and he threw off his scarf to get one last punch on the blond before letting him leave.

Sting disappeared while the restaurant's owner ran up to Natsu and began demanding payment for the broken window. That would have lightened Natsu's mood, had Rogue not also disappeared while he was paying for the damage.


	7. Chapter 7

It was becoming a bi-weekly thing for them to go down to the lake and watch the sunset, though Rogue now had to put on a jacket before comfortably going out (which wouldn't have been so unpleasant if his jacket didn't stretch so tight over his stomach.) Rogue had stopped leaning on Natsu automatically whenever they were down there, he no longer had to try quite so hard to please, but he did allow for more contact than normal. If Natsu took his hand for a moment while they were talking or cupped his cheek he wouldn't object.

"Although I don't know why you need to look at my face so often," Rogue said once when Natsu pointed all of that out.

"You have a nice face," Natsu insisted, brushing aside Rogue's hair. Sometimes he went so long without seeing Rogue's right eye that he began to worry he'd forget what color it was.

Rogue scowled and turned away, letting his hair fall back into its usual place. He had trouble coming up with a response for comments like that. Sting had always laughed and started opening himself up for more praise-or a kick to the nuts-when he was complimented, but blushing and sounding grateful wasn't Rogue's style, and acting haughty about his looks was even further from how Rogue liked to compose himself. He just stood back and looked out at everything with disinterest. When something, or someone, not only held his interest but forced him out front and center, he got lost.

But a kuudere wasn't the type of person Natsu was used to. When Rogue reacted to his compliment by turning away his heart sank into his stomach. It had been a few weeks since he'd seen Sting around, but that didn't mean it wasn't ever on him mind that Rogue had agreed to get lunch with his ex-no matter how Rogue chose to describe the situation.

"Rogue?" Natsu asked. Rogue looked over at him. "You… like me, don't you?"

"You're nice," was Rogue's response. "All of Fairy Tail is."

His heart sank a little lower. "But that's not what I meant."

And Rogue had known that. He sighed and leaned forward, resting his forehead on his knees since he was afraid to lean over far enough to touch his chin. He certainly did like Natsu, as a human being, as someone who he spent time with, even as a boyfriend. _That_ way? It was hard to say. He hadn't even thought of it.

From under his hair he stole a glance at Natsu, who seemed a bit paler than normal as he looked back at Rogue. That wasn't right. Just seeing that distressed look on Natsu's face made Rogue feel like he was at the lake to drown puppies rather than to sit and have some quiet time with his boyfriend. Natsu wasn't supposed to look like that. He was supposed to be all smiles, and even when he wasn't happy there was a righteousness to his fury, and those were the only two emotions he regularly showed. He was… energetic. Much more so than Rogue. Natsu was almost like a bonfire.

Rogue, on the other hand, was a shadow. If you wanted a good, solid shadow, then you needed something bright to cast it.

"Yes," Rogue decided. "I _like_ you."

Like, not love. He wasn't going to declare his love for someone he'd only known a few months.

But would he say he still loved someone who had caused him so much grief? Rogue shoved the idea away and leaned against Natsu to reassure him of the statement, to reassure himself of his own choice. He'd told Sting he was with Natsu. He couldn't allow himself to regret that choice now.

"I like you too," Natsu told him. "You're kinda cool. You're different from most of my friends."

"Mm," Rogue grunted, letting his eyes droop a little.

"I think… I'm not happy with what Sting did… but I feel like it was really lucky for me. Otherwise I'd never have gotten to know you so well."

A little insensitive, but also sweet. Rogue sighed and shut his eyes.

"O-oy! Are you _falling asleep_ while I spill my heart?"

"You wear it on your sleeves as it is," Rogue told him. "And no, I'm perfectly awake. I was just enjoying the moment."

"Oh… I'm enjoying this moment too, then."

Rogue chuckled at that. "We came down here too early this time."

"Did we?"

"Look. It's been half an hour, and the sun's still too high." He almost added that they were missing dinner, but a growl from his stomach pointed that out for him.

To Rogue's embarrassment Natsu threw his head back and laughed. "Okay. Let's go home then. We had our quiet time, and we've seen the sunset before. You need food."

"Natsu," Rogue growled.

"Right. Right. No teasing. Don't worry about it. I'm getting hungry too."

Rogue searched Natsu's face for any signs that his boyfriend was still trying not to laugh, but found none. That was… unusually sweet of him. Natsu rarely kept his opinions in check just because someone was a little embarrassed. Natsu also didn't know many people who could be as intolerant as Rogue, but Rogue didn't like to think of himself as intolerant so it he never noticed that there were so few people Natsu needed to be careful around.

Natsu got up and pulled Rogue to his feet. "Come on. Anything in particular you want tonight?"

"Chocolate."

"Um… I don't think I have enough of that to make a dinner out of. How about… pasta, and chocolate for desert."

Rogue nodded. "I can live with that."

-o-

If Rogue had been embarrassed to have his stomach growl at the lake he was positively mortified by how loud it became once he could smell ground turkey meat and tomato paste cooking. The scent of each spice Natsu thought to add to the sauce was mocking him. He decided to shower while the meal cooked in the hopes that the sound of running water would drown out his stomach.

The bathroom was surprisingly large, when you considered the rest of Natsu's house, which was to say that it wasn't so cramped that there was no room to stand outside of the shower-tub combo. Rogue covered the unfogged glass window looking out into the back yard with the clothes he tossed off and got into the shower, turning up the hot water. Even if Natsu's house was small, and a bit out of the way of absolutely everything, it always had hot water. Best perk of living with a wizard specializing in fire.

He leaned back, enjoying the feel of it running over his cold skin and weighing down his hair. If he missed having his own room, for as little privacy as Sting had allowed it to offer him, he still got to have moments all to himself from time to time, and he'd be damned if he wasn't going to appreciate them.

No one was looking, so he allowed himself a small pleasure he denied around others and ran his hands across his stomach. The baby was finally big enough that he couldn't be mistaken for simply being overweight even if you hadn't heard about him being pregnant, and while he didn't quite enjoy the increase in clothes sizes, he was beginning to anticipate the birth. Why not? It was going to happen anyway, and he had someone sweet and sensitive as… he couldn't quite finish that thought. Sensitive wasn't the right word for Natsu, but he did try his best, and he kept Rogue from worrying about single parenthood. With that weight off his mind he could focus more on the child itself. Taking little moments to imagine he was bonding with the baby as he glided his fingers over the bump covering his child. What gender _would_ it be? Would the child take to working in a guild like him? What would the baby look like?

How much like Sting would he or she look?

His mind screeched to a halt, wrapping completely around the reminder that it was _Sting's_ child inside him. Sting's, not Natsu's. That would never change, no matter how many times Natsu called himself the father.

Rogue blocked out any further thoughts about the child, shoving them away to be ignored until that idea had been given sufficient time to fade. He washed off with the scentless soaps Natsu liked to buy, wrapped a towel around himself, and came out, half naked and ringing out his hair.

Natsu looked over at Rogue as he stepped out of the bathroom, eyes glued to his stomach. Rogue shrugged and walked over to his corner of the room, dressing at whatever pace he felt like. The bump already showed through his shirt. Why bother hiding it any longer?

"So I'm allowed to see you almost naked now?" Natsu asked.

"Only if you keep feeding me," Rogue informed him.

Natsu laughed at that and dumped spaghetti noodles onto a large plate. A large, _clean_ plate, which he easily found. For as much as he hated the rules Rogue imposed about keeping the place in order, he did have to admit that it made things easier. He drizzled the meat and tomato sauce onto the noodle next, making a show of it and privately enjoying how the sight made Rogue drool. Not for the first time he wondered if the boy had been so food oriented before becoming pregnant. Erza visited Jellal regularly and reported on his condition, but he didn't remember her ever talking about his appetite. Maybe she never thought to mention it, or maybe Rogue had just always been a glutton. In six and a half months Natsu would know which was the case.

"Natsu, is that all for you?" Happy asked when Natsu turned around and revealed just how large a plate he'd chosen to use for dishing up.

"I thought we could all share," Natsu said.

Happy shrugged and picked up a fork, digging in when Natsu set the plate down. Frosch waited for Rogue to start, which was normal. What was strange was to see Natsu also waiting for Rogue before taking a bite, but Rogue didn't comment on that. The food looked to good to waste any time asking Natsu if something was wrong.

"You should make this with cod," Happy recommended between mouthfuls.

"But then I'd need to learn a new recipe for the sauce," Natsu told them. He was eating abnormally slow. It was beginning to bother Rogue.

"Fro wants cod, too."

"Then we'll have fish tomorrow," Natsu dismissed, leaning to the side and gazing intensely at the pasta before looking up to Rogue.

O…kay… Rogue was officially weirded out.

Watching Natsu for any sudden movements, Rogue reached down and scooped up a bite of pasta, attempting to twist it around his fork without actually looking. Natsu's shoulders sagged.

The roset leaned forward hopefully when Rogue reached for a second bite, then sagged again. On the third bite after Natsu's odd behavior really got under way when he snapped forward, catching noodles with his own fork and holding them up triumphantly.

A single noodle stretched from Rogue's fork to Natsu's. Rogue gave the utensil a light tug and the noodle snapped.

"Uwah! Why did you do that?" Natsu cried.

"It was caught on both of our forks," Rogue responded, confused.

Natsu sighed. "Fine. I'll find another noodle that goes across the place. Don't do that again."

"Natsu, what are you doing?" Rogue demanded.

"I'm looking for a noodle," Natsu reminded him, bending over to inspect the other side of the plate.

"It seems he's been watching too many movies recently," Happy said, turning his paws up in an exaggerated shrug and sighing.

"Fro thinks so, too."

"Movies?" Rogue asked.

"Aye." Happy nodded. "He's been going to Levy's and Bisca's while you're working and asking to borrow romance stories. Sometime they have movies for him to watch too."

"That's…" sweet in a hilariously misguided way, but saying all of that out loud might have been a bit rude, so Rogue let the sentence trail off. "So what is he doing?"

"I _told_ you," Natsu growled, "I'm looking for-"

"He wants the two of you to slurp up the same noodle so your lips touch," Happy explained.

"Our… our lips?" Rogue forced back a blush. Of course he'd kissed before, but with someone who _wasn't_ Sting…

"Ah! Happy, you weren't supposed to tell him, it needs to happen by surprise," Natsu said.

"Your behavior was surprising," Rogue told him in a half-hearted effort to be consoling.

Natsu sighed and set his fork down, folding his arms on the knee high table and burying his head in them. "Never mind. Just forget I even made dinner."

"Okay!" Frosch chirped. "Rogue, how long until we eat?"

"You're allowed to remember dinner," Rogue informed her. "Natsu, if you don't eat your share, I'm taking it."

"Go ahead. I'm going to go bury myself in rubbish and die." Natsu lifted his head and looked around for a suitable pile of trash to hide his embarrassment in, but thanks to Rogue there weren't any around the house. He settled for crawling under the table.

"It wasn't that bad," Rogue assured him. "The dinner taste great, and the attempt to get a kiss out of it was… interesting." He didn't think Natsu would take well to cute, and the other word that described it, quirky, wasn't what you called someone when comforting them.

"It was horrible. I'm sleeping here tonight."

"Natsu, get out from under the table," Rogue ordered.

Natsu grumbled and obeyed him, crawling out on Frosch's side and sitting himself up in front of Rogue. "Happy?"

"Aye?"

"Are you happy?" Natsu clarified.

Rogue looked Natsu up and down, then nodded his approval and leaned forward, giving Natsu's lips just a brief peck. "For your efforts."


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rune Factory is my all time favorite video game series. One of the recipes you can use while cooking makes a drink called Prelude to Love. I ripped the description straight from the game.

Rogue gave Natsu a goodbye kiss before watching him step out to face certain doom.

Once the train Natsu had boarded was out of sight he gestured for Frosch to follow him out of the station. Just thinking about the torture device Natsu was trapped in made Rogue feel queasy.

"Does Rogue have work day?"

"Yeah."

"Oh! Fro remembers! Rogue is helping serve food for the party tonight," Fro said. "But will Rogue be okay? The last time the guild celebrated-"

"It's a party for Cana," Rogue replied stubbornly. "No one will pay much attention to me."

"So attention's still a problem for you, huh?"

Rogue sighed, unsure if he should be relived or anxious to have Sting appear out of nowhere at his side. He settled for being annoyed that the blond had obviously waited until Natsu was gone before moving in. "Yes."

Sting chuckled. "That's…" A red-eyed warning look from Rogue killed the word 'cute' in his throat, and he coughed and tried again, "And it won't be a problem for you today?"

"No."

He nodded, not the slightest bit fazed by the customary curt response. "So… if you don't mind me asking… how are things between you and Natsu? You two are… um… dating?"

"Yes. Natsu and I are together."

"I… I see…"

"He's the second person I've ever been with," Rogue continued.

"Right."

"Who I started seeing after you kicked me out."

"I get it!" Sting's growl melted into a sigh, and he buried his face in his hands. "I get it… I screwed up."

Rogue nodded, and stole a glance at Sting from behind his mess of hair. The blond kept pace with Rogue, gaze focused on the ground, shoulder's slumped. He had all the same features as before, but somehow he didn't look like himself with that posture.

They were halfway to Natsu's when Sting spoke up again. "I guess there's no way you'd give me another chance…"

"Not while I'm still with Natsu," Rogue assured him.

Sting nodded. "Right. Because… you're _not_ the sort of person who'd… I'm sorry…"

"I know, and apologizing doesn't change that it happened."

"And it won't change your mind either," Sting agreed. "So I guess there's no chance you'd go with me to one of our old date sites."

"They're too far away."

Sting couldn't help but chuckle at that being what Rogue took issue with. "Right. One train ride a day is enough."

Oh. So he hadn't been hanging around for when Natsu left after all. "You came this morning?"

"Yeah… well… if you don't want me around…" Sting looked back to the train station. "Maybe I shoulda brought Lector along…"

"One train ride a day is enough," Rogue told him. "Natsu's gone for the week, and if you're not going to press for me to cheat with you then I don't mind you staying."

"Eh? The whole week? I saw him getting on the train when I left, but I thought he'd be staying home as much as he could while you were pregnant."

"I'm not crippled. My center of balance is just a little off. I can still take care of myself."

That time Sting cringed. "You look… um…"

"Fat?"

"Yeah."

"Thanks."

Speaking up for the first time since her old friend showed up, Fro said, "Sting should have to buy Rogue lunch as punishment for being so mean."

"N-no he shouldn't!" Rogue stuttered. Natsu had treated the last time like a date. He couldn't do something that would be taken wrong right after trying to put his foot down with Sting.

"But Natsu was so busy this morning when Lucy came over with their job that he didn't make Rogue lunch. Are we eating at the guild? Fro thought we weren't going until evening so we didn't have to help put up decorations."

Rogue bit his lip. He was already past half way home, and pretty sure that there was still food in Natsu's house. It wasn't like he'd forgotten how to cook in just a few months after having been the one to handle meals the whole time he'd lived with Sting. Still… he had enjoyed not having to deal with that particular chore.

So would he rather be lazy… or give Sting another shot at pleading his case?

No! That wasn't it! Lazy or raise concerns for Natsu!

And also give Sting a chance to plead his case.

Rogue sighed.

"If you're still taking food bribes I'm willing to settle for that," Sting told him. "I'm banned from that diner now, but there must be another place here that you like."

Rough hmmed and thought about it for a moment. Where had that sweet and sour place he'd vetoed with Natsu been?

-o-

"Geeze, do they need to actually put the words 'sweet and sour' on every dish they serve?" Sting tossed the menu down. "What a waste of ink. I don't have to say that with my order, do I? It should just be implied."

"It doesn't list any of the drinks as sweet and sour," Frosch told him.

Rogue shook his head and held his copy of the menu out, pointing to a drink that _did_ say that.

Sting leaned over and read the beverage's information. "Prelude to Love. It's sweet yet sour rush hits you like Cupid's arrow. We're… uh… not getting that, right?"

"I wanted something sweet and sour," Rogue told him. "That's why we're here."

"Alright then… One Prelude to Love it is."

"You can only order them in pairs," a passing waitress told them.

Sting groaned and facedesked. He was stumbling over himself trying _not_ to do anything couple-ish. Hadn't Rogue been the one to say that was off limits?

Although… Rogue _was_ the one insisting they order it. Sting looked back up and studied Rogue's face, which wasn't quite as impassive as normal as he scanned the menu, trying to pick from all the great choices. Realizing he needed to order too, Sting picked his menu back up and tried to find something bearable. He ended up going with a pork noodle dish while Rogue ordered a plate with chicken and rice. The Prelude to Love set, or course, was also ordered. Frosch asked for a fish platter with the sauce to the side. Before Sting could think to adjust his order and follow the little idiot's brilliant idea, the waitress left.

"So… have you heard the gender yet?" Sting asked as soon as she was gone.

Rogue shook his head. "They don't check until next week, and in any case I've asked not to be told."

"O-oh." Sting slumped back in his seat, pouting until the next point he'd meant to get to returned to him. "About the name, though. I told you we should call the baby Alex, right? Alexander's sorta cool, and Alexandria's nice, and either way Alex works."

"I'll consider it."

He nodded, satisfied to have gotten the idea out. He couldn't put up a huge fight for a baby name when he wasn't even going to be a huge part of the child's life.

The reminder chilled him, and he slumped back, not speaking again.

Rogue noticed the sudden change in Sting's demeanor, but decided not to point it out. He didn't want to know the answer, and if they could just get through the meal without having to address anything uncomfortable…

"Why is Sting sad?" Frosch asked.

"I'm… It's nothing," Sting insisted, putting on the same indifferent face he saw on Rogue so often and straightening back up. "I'm fine."

"Don't lie to Frosch. She'll believe you," Rogue told him.

"That's… the whole point of lying."

"Fro thinks so too!"

Rogue sighed and leaned back in his seat, staring up at the ceiling. He hadn't expected Sting to be acting so awkward when he agreed to this. Usually he was so overly confident of his every action that it took some restraint on Rogue's part not to stab him with a butter knife when they ate out. The worst time was when they'd gone to a high class place for their fifth anniversary as a couple. That butter had been decorated with a large bead, which made it pretty but hard to grip. Despite that, he'd been testing it's weight in his hand when he realized how expensive it would be to pay the restaurant for any stains in the rug and begrudgingly aborted his plan to murder his boyfriend. It had been a fun evening.

When had they last gone out to a restaurant on a date? Not the other week. Whatever Natsu thought, Rogue refused to call that a date. They hadn't done anything since… not since before the Grand Magic Games. Afterward he'd been too disoriented from the spell that had left him in his current predicament to do much. Sting had taken a solo job to pay the bills, and by the time he came back Rogue was beginning to develop early symptoms of pregnancy. He'd been so determined to overcome whatever weird bug he'd caught that he all but put himself on bed rest, at least until the symptoms persisted long enough that he couldn't put off going to a hospital, and then…

He looked back down at Sting, who was no longer blatantly hiding that he was thinking about the same rift between the two of them. Although he wasn't obviously showing it either. In fact, he was just staring at…

Rogue blushed and moved his hands off of his stomach. When had those gotten there?

"Does the baby kick yet?" Sting asked.

"If it does, I haven't notice."

"Oh." Sting sighed. "Well… you have to let me feel it when it does, okay? Even if I don't get to be the father, I am the father, right? I… still want to be a part of our child's life."

"My eyes are up here," Rogue informed Sting, snapping the blond's attention off of his stomach, "And I have no intention of keeping you from seeing the child. If Natsu doesn't like that then hell have to learn to live with it."

Sting nodded.

"So if you wanted to have lunch with me again, I suppose you wanted to talk about how things have been with you, too?"

-o-

Sting was only halfway through the tale of one of his latest jobs when their food and drinks arrived. If he noticed he didn't even miss a beat in his story, carrying on as he embellished his many feats to the point that it was almost comical. He was to into it too stop and eat, making grand, sweeping gestures as he described it all. The light in his eyes made Rogue envious of him for still being able to work. If only Sting had been the one pregnant with _his_ kid instead. He felt a pang of jealousy for Sting still having _his_ nice physique. And… something else?

Nostalgia? Maybe? Rogue didn't want to use the word love. Not while he was devoting himself to Natsu, but seeing Sting like that again, not on his knees begging for forgiveness, not awkwardly trying to avoid anything, not trying his hardest to pretend nothing was there, just being himself and getting caught up in his little battles. That pure energy, like a light shining as bright as the sun…

That was the same sort of thing he'd been drawn to in Natsu, wasn't it?

He paused, sucking on a piece of chicken still attached to his fork while he processed that. He'd decided he liked Natsu… for the same trait he was trying not to say he loved Sting for.

And he'd be trying not to think about that too!

But as Sting wrapped up his story, which had somehow missed the detail of how he'd escaped the dark guild's torture chamber after having been captured, (Rogue would have guessed Sting would skip over the capture and glorify his escape) he couldn't help but blush at the stupid grin on Sting's face.

"Oh, when did our orders get here?"

"When Sting was talking about how he took out the giant with iron-make magic," Frosch told him.

"Huh." Sting shrugged and took a bite. It wasn't as bad as he'd been dreading. Still not his favorite flavor but… he looked up at the blush still lingering on Rogue's face. If the meal made the one with cravings happy, then at least he'd done something Rogue had liked. Sting could suffer the food too, incase seeing that the restaurant choice had really been that unpopular with him made Rogue upset again. That was really too cute a blush to let fade.

Did Natsu see it whenever he cooked for Rogue? The question was forced down alongside a bite of pork. He wasn't going to think about it. And he was _going_ to learn to cook, if Rogue liked to be the one who had meals prepared for him. He wasn't going to come out and tell Rogue to dump Natsu, but he wasn't going to let that idiot be the clear choice either. Overcoming _that_ incident was already a huge hurdle Sting had to deal with. If Natsu showed him up in any other area... well, he didn't even need to think about how badly that could go for him, because he wouldn't let it happen.

Rogue rolled his eyes at the intense glare Sting was giving his food. (If Sting was that opposed to it he could have said so! He would have been fine with getting burgers.) Finishing off his own meal, Rogue picked up his drink, which was a nice, masculine shade of pink, and took a sip.

When he lowered the glass he saw that Sting, who had been overpowered by the gooey sauce, was also drinking.

Interesting.

He watched Sting eat, waiting carefully for him to lift his drink again before picking his own up and taking the same light sip as Sting. He managed to do so twice more before Sting noticed.

"I wasn't doing that on purpose," he insisted. He couldn't afford to have Rogue think he was setting up any sappy-

"I was."

Sappy… uh…

No wonder Natsu had thought they were on a date. Did Rogue try other ooey gooey things that had always missed Sting's notice before? Did he show an interest in drinks with two straws? Feeding one another? That cliche where you slurp the same pasta noodle?

No, that was all ridiculous. Rogue would usually choose death over something so emotional. His cute moments were few and far between, and really, Sting liked them that way. That just made it that much cuter when Rogue timed their drinks and slipped so delicately.

What had possessed him to give that guy up? Rogue didn't even _realize_ how precious his behavior was, lips pouting just the slightest bit, almost imperceptible even to someone who was used to reading his face, waiting for Sting to lift his drink again.

Prelude to Love, huh? Sting picked the glass back up and downed it.

When he checked again Rogue's glass was also empty. A thin pink coating had appeared over his upper lip.

This was the point where he would lick it off, turn that into a kiss, and then offer to extend their date. Maybe go for a walk or check out the theater to see if there was anything good to ignore while they made out in the back row. Sting clenched his fists, leaning forward an inch before catching himself.

It wasn't a date.

It was just two friends eating together, avoiding mention of how one had betrayed the other.

It wasn't a date.

He sat back again, careful not to slump this time.

It wasn't a date.

"Are you done?" Rogue asked, misreading Sting's body language.

"Uh… Mm." Sting nodded.

"Alright. Frosch?"

"Fro's all full!"

Rogue turned and flagged down their waitress, asking for the check. When she left he looked up at a clock, then back down to Sting. "I have a few more hours to kill before I need to be at Fairy Tail. There's a movie playing that I thought looked interesting. About a girl saving a knight from a dragon. If you're paying for lunch, I can buy your ticket."

Oh he did _not_ realize what he was doing. Not at all.

Sting shook his head. "This isn't a date, right?"

Rogue blinked, then nodded. "Right. Of course."

Although it could have been if Sting had just held his tongue and let Rogue get tickets. They could have had a full date like they always would, and it would be like normal again. And then Rogue really _would_ be cheating too. Sting sighed and handed Rogue a napkin to wipe the Prelude to Love off his lip. "Maybe with some other guild members of yours. A group thing."

"With Mira tomorrow," Rogue decided. She'd be eager to go and make sure Sting wasn't trying to start anything behind Natsu's back, and if Natsu smelled Sting around then after how his last relationship ended Rogue couldn't help but wanted someone to vouch for him. "Is that alright with you?"

"It's a… plan."

A plan. Not a date.

It wouldn't be until he found a way to end the situation with Natsu.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remember that thing I said before with the selkies and the knights?

The movie had been nice, a bit of a letdown, but it had given Sting and Mira something to talk about when they all went and got a bite to eat afterward. That had been her idea. While she and Sting hadn't quite hit it off, he hadn't ended up on her bad side either, and both had been pleasantly surprised when they realized that they had company that was more likely to chat.

"But I was expecting the knight to at least get captured fair and square," Sting complained.

"Eh…? But I thought it was chivalrous of him to trade his own freedom for the princess's, and a knight _has_ to be chivalrous," Mira argued.

"He shouldn't have _needed_ to trade himself. That dragon was a joke! She took him out by throwing a book at its head! What's the point of even being a knight if you can't take out a wimp that even the princess can beat?"

"Just because a girl is wearing a poofy dress doesn't mean she can't hurt you," Rogue warned. Mira nodded her approval, and later that evening proved that for Sting, banning herself and the blond from the café in the process.

"If I keep getting attacked, soon I won't be allowed anywhere in town…" Sting mumbled as they left.

Rogue had thought he was being melodramatic, but by the end of the week Sting was also banned from a small bakery by the outskirts of Magnolia.

"None of this is for life?" Rogue asked.

"Just a month, since I'm never the one who started it."

"I'm not allowed in there for six months," Gajeel grumbled. "Oy, Shady, should you be spending so much time with this guy?"

"I'm allowed to have _friends_ ," Rogue insisted.

Despite that, when Sting left the morning Natsu was supposed to return (no sense in setting himself up to be banned from even more businesses) Rogue took some time making sure there were no traces of the blond's scent on him, and held his tongue on the subject when he went down to the train station to welcome Natsu home. I had just been old friends spending time together again. There hadn't been any of those couple things Natsu liked, no holding hands, no kissing, no 'staring into one another's eyes', _just_ spending time together. There was no reason to upset Natsu over something like that.

Nothing… nothing had happened while Natsu was gone.

Rogue sighed. He was a horrible person.

"You okay?" Natsu asked as he staggered of the train.

Rogue nodded. "You?"

"Euh… I've been better," Natsu admitted. "C'mon… let's go to the guild.

Getting Natsu's arm over his shoulder, Rogue helped Natsu walk straight until the effects of the train had passed. Lucy followed behind, giggling and telling them how cute they were together, putting all her efforts into making Rogue feel even worse about having caved and spent the week with Sting, regardless of whether or not he only meant to do it as a friend.

It wasn't until he was greeted to Mira's reassuring smile at the guild that his guilt eased. She'd been the one who came with him most often, and she'd never acted like there was anything wrong with him and Sting going places and talking. Heck, she'd done _most_ of the talking with Sting. There had been a few times that Rogue had almost felt like a third wheel, which was neither too uncommon nor a bad so long as he wasn't trying to enjoy his boyfriend's presence.

Which explained why, while he didn't care too much at first when Natsu ran ahead of him to talk to the members of his team who hadn't come on the job with him, he didn't appreciate it when Natsu continued talking to them all throughout the afternoon, giving Rogue only a glance and a small smile when the boy came down and sat next to Natsu, fidgeting and trying to get at least a few words directed towards him.

"You need to use the bathroom?" Gray finally asked.

Rogue shook his head.

"Oh, he doesn't do that as much as I thought a pregnant person would," Natsu dismissed before resuming his story.

Wanting to spend time with his friends after a week long job was fine, but _he_ hadn't seen his boyfriend for that long either! Rogue bit back a complaint and waited for Natsu to finish his story. How long had the jerk been ignoring him now?

And why was there a part of him thinking that it would be easier if Natsu finally hit that point where he stopped putting his all into impressing him?

No. It would be easier if he just brought himself to tell Sting that he had to stay away.

No! There wasn't any issue with _friends_ hanging out. The issue was… that all the things they'd done… were things that they didn't usually do as friends. Meals, movies. He might as well have shown Sting his and Natsu's spot at the lake, then justify it by saying they were only hanging out.

Lost in thought, he missed the break in conversation that he'd meant to draw Natsu's attention during.

He gave up and went home.

-o-

"You left early," Natsu said as he entered the house.

Rogue nodded. "Though it didn't matter if I was there or not."

"Eh? What does that mean?"

"Rogue was waiting for you to talk to him," Happy told Natsu. "He kept squirming and looking at you with a desperate, longing look." Desperate was pushing it, but Rogue didn't bother to make any corrections.

"R-really?" Natsu looked at Rogue, lying on his back on his mattress and staring back at Natsu dejectedly. "I… I uh… didn't…"

"Notice," Rogue finished for him. "I'm going to bed."

"Without dinner?"

"I'm not hungry."

"Rogue's lying," Frosch told them.

Natsu hesitated, cocking his head slightly and wondering if he should maybe say something else. Rogue was already all wrapped up in bed, though, so he let it go and went to make dinner. If Rogue was lying then food would draw him out.

-o-

Under his breath, Rogue cursed his treacherous stomach, loudly protesting his refusal to get up and enjoy the heavenly smelling meal that Natsu was making a point of eating as loudly as he could.

"You're really not hungry?"

"I'm asleep," Rogue told him. It sounded beyond ridiculous, even when he already considered it childish, but he didn't care.

-o-

Rogue really was asleep the next morning. Frosch insisted that he didn't have work today, so Natsu let him sleep in and left to give the boy more time to cool off. He wouldn't be doing any work either. He'd caught Sting's scent here and there around town and almost expected the blond to pounce the second he turned his back on Rogue. It would be just like that bastard.

"Even though you told Rogue to try and make up with him the night he showed up," Happy reminded Natsu when he mentioned as much at the guild.

"That was before I saw how Sting spoke to him," Natsu insisted. More importantly, that was before Natsu had decided that the poor thing Sting had treated like garbage was a real gem, but he wasn't going to say that.

"I think it would be good if they make up," Mira told him. "You've said before that Rogue had trouble with thinking about his last relationship. You can only get so far in a relationship when one of the people involved is still hung up on the last person they were with. If Sting and Rogue return to being friends, Rogue's mind won't wander to Sting so often."

"Although there's also the risk that Rogue will find he likes Sting more if they go back to getting along," Gray teased. "Who'd want you over that cocky bastard anyway?"

Rogue might. Because even if we were dating and even if Sting had abandoned him, Rogue still kept all those photos where he thought Natsu wouldn't notice them.

"Maybe I should go home…" If there was a risk of losing him, Natsu couldn't afford to have Rogue upset with him any longer.

Mira shook her head. "Don't fret over it too much. Sting was careful not to do anything romantic even when you weren't around. Whatever his feelings, he's not going to forcibly take Rogue back from right under your nose." Natsu didn't quite buy that, but it was comforting to see Mira go demon in the middle of the guild hall and crush the bar under her fist. "And if he decides to try that after all, I'll make sure there isn't enough left of him to take _anyone_."

Everyone laughed while Makarov came over to yell about the ruined bar. He laughed along with them, spirits lifted from seeing that. Even hearing that Sting had been there when he was gone didn't bother him as much as he'd thought the confirmation would.

"I should still get home," Natsu decided once he was done laughing. "I think Rogue's mad at me right now."

"Then what are you doing here?" Mira asked, completely reversing her stance now that she knew that. "Go. Tell him you love him."

"But he knows I-"

Mira shoved him towards the door. Natsu stumbled, trying not to fall on my face. Once he regained his balance he laughed again, waving to them before running back home. If he still catching the lingering scent from Sting's romp around town the last week, it didn't affect him anymore. He was still in high spirits from having been at the guild when he threw his door open.

Rogue was still in bed.

"You alright?" Natsu asked, suddenly concerned that maybe Rogue wasn't mad so much as he was ill.

"Go ask your _friends_ about it." Nope. Just that mad. Maybe he'd jumped back into bed when he heard Natsu running up the path.

Natsu sighed, walking over to Rogue's bed and ripping the sheets off of him before saying, "I'm allowed to have friends, right?"

Rogue cringed, wondering for a moment if Natsu had been speaking with Gajeel. Whether or not that was the case, though, he didn't want to seem like a hypocrite. "Or course."

"So why the rage? Well, rage for you, anyway. You know it's bad to be passive aggressive right? If you just shouted and punched me in the chest I'd at least know what you're upset about."

Only if he shouted about why he was upset, but Rogue decided not to follow Natsu's suggestion. "Why not just talk to your teammates about it? You're more than welcome to spend as much time with them as you want."

Scowling, Natsu racked his brain for any hints, finally remembering what Happy said last night. "Is this still about me ignoring you yesterday? I wasn't doing it on purpose."

"In a way, that's worse."

"Worse?"

Rogue nodded and sat up, meeting Natsu's eye. "If you had a reason to ignore me then fine. If you did it without realizing then that means I have no way of controlling whether you notice me or not."

"Well, you don't exactly go out of your way to be noticed. If you want someone to pay attention to you, just interrupt them mid-sentence."

"But that's not-" Rogue broke off, growling in frustration and running his hands through his hair. "If you want to spend time with the rest of the guild then fine. Just don't tune me out again. When I was with-"

He froze.

Natsu waited a minute for Rogue to move again, asking when he didn't, "When you were what?"

"With… you at the guild," Rogue said. "I didn't like it when I was at the guild. You stopped noticing me the second we got there." He was dimly aware that his complaining made him sound like a clingy girlfriend, but mood swings. It wasn't quite that, but they made for a nice excuse if anyone called him out on his behavior. And pretending that his hormones were getting the better of him beat admitting that he wasn't even about to complain about that.

When I was with Sting, he _always_ checked with me before going off with anyone else.

He wasn't with Sting. _He_ agreed with Natsu and _he_ told Sting that they weren't getting back together and _he_ insisted that if Sting hung around then they were only seeing one another as friends.

He was also the one who was too worried about it to say a thing to Natsu about the time he spent with Sting.

It was so quiet, he realized. Rogue had averted his gaze as thoughts of what he really meant took over, but now he looked back up at Natsu, waiting for a response.

The roset was no more willing to speak than Rogue was, biting his lip and looking away.

"Natsu?"

"I… I didn't mean to ignore you. Really. Let me make it up to somehow. I…" he took a deep breath. "H-hey, get out."

_Get out! You user! You whore! I don't want to have to look at you again!  
_

Rogue's heart stopped.

"Wh-what?"

"Get out of bed already," Natsu insisted. "You're skipping work, right? Whatever you had Frosch say, you've _always_ worked this day. So go. If I'm going to make this up to you it needs to be a surprise. I can't surprise you if you watch me set it up!"

That… made more sense that what his mind had jumped to. Why get rid of someone while talking about doing something nice for them? Rogue's shoulders sagged with relief and he nodded, getting up and giving Natsu a quick hug before leaving for work.

-o-

To make up for missing work in the morning, Rogue was kept at the bar to help with basic repairs and serve beer that evening. He could only hope the scent of booze wouldn't cling to him even after he'd bathed. Neither he nor Sting had ever had much to do with alcohol (who _wanted_ to lose control?) so it wasn't an area where he had much experience.

Any unpleasant smells were forgotten a few hundred yards from home. He could see a window open, which explained how the delicious scent of lamb had drifted so far out. His stomach rumbled and Rogue licked his lips, picking up the pace.

Frosch greeted him at the door, and pointed to Natsu as Rogue stepped in. "He's been cooking since you left."

For half the day? Rogue gave the stove a good look over. The heat wasn't too high. No lower than was safe for slow cooking in such a period of time. The meat wouldn't melt like that, but it would be much more tender than if it had been cooked in an hour or so like usual. That was a lot more patients than Natsu could usually put into something.

Natsu saw Rogue staring and grinned. "Sit down. Sit. I'll get this dished up."

Rogue obeyed, eagerly waiting for Natsu to set a plate down in front of him. The minute it took Natsu to get everyone's meals onto their plates was torture.

On his way over Natsu closed the window. Without the cold draft he had to decrease the amount of magic he was using to keep the place warm enough for Rogue so as not to roast his boyfriend. Though judging by the un-Rogue-like look Rogue was giving him as he carried dinner over, he would likely be forgiven for that as well as for ignoring him. God be praised for the food oriented mind. It was at least one trait those two had in common, so it made pleasing Rogue an easier task to figure out.

The plate was barely out of Natsu's hand before Rogue sampled it, enjoying the taste immensely. It was just as he'd expected. Not the perfect slow cook, but softer than normal and so delicious that he had to think to keep from making a fool of himself and showing just how good it was. No ridiculous "mmm" noises or goofy faces from him.

"You like it?" Natsu asked.

Rogue nodded "I never would have guessed you could cook like this."

"Well, I couldn't, but I had Mira teach me a bunch of nice recipes after our anniversary."

No nitpicking during nice meals. He let the term 'anniversary' slide. "Is that so? Why did you ask?"

"So I could make more stuff for you. You were so picky about restaurants, but you never make a huge fuss about what I cook. I wanted you to have more variety."

He was _not_ blushing.

"Ah! You look cute when your cheeks turn pink like that!"

Okay. He was blushing. Rogue set his fork down and looked away, trying to hide his face behind his hair. Natsu laughed at that and leaned over the table, kissing a bit of exposed forehead.

Rogue wasn't sure what happened next. He knew he'd tried to turn away from a few more kisses before Natsu had ended up on top of them, both boys on the floor as they embraced, kisses, tongues dancing, lips tugging, wanting more. Something more passionate than he'd felt since-

Rogue gasped, breaking away. Natsu stared at him, confused as Rogue pushed back and sat up, catching his breath and refusing to look at Natsu again.

"Are you still mad at me?"

Rogue shook his head.

"Morning sickness? Bisca said you might still get queasy from time to time."

"No."

"And you're not mad."

"I… maybe." Rogue took a deep breath. "I just… I'm not being fair."

"Making out with me is unfair?"

"No. Yes. I…" he sighed. "Sting came by, after you left. We talked again. Just… normal things. I had Mira come along so she could verify that it was just friendly but… I'm not being fair."

"She told me." More or less. He was glad to hear Rogue being open about it, in any case. "I have my friends. Even if I'd rather you get along better with the guild, I can't stop you. Then I'd be the one being unfair. You didn't ignore me for Sting anyway, so you're not being unfair at all."

He hadn't even meant it that way. He'd told Natsu friends we fine, after all. What wasn't fair was…

"Spending time with him again… I wondered if I maybe like you because you two are… similar."

Because you remind me of the man I'm not over.

Natsu cocked his head, still not getting what Rogue wasn't saying. "If we both suit your tastes-"

"If it turned out-hypothetically speaking-that I only liked you as a replacement, if we kept going and I realized that was the case, would that be fair?" Rogue finally spat out. "I like you. I do. I'm just worried… you might not be who I really like."

He was still looking away, so he couldn't see he'd been a bit too honest that time. Natsu wasn't as skilled as Rogue at masking things, but he managed before saying, "So what? You said you liked me. If you like me because of something I have in common with Sting, then that's a trait you like in general. I just need to convince you that all my other traits are better to." Like my tendency to not send you out in the rain when you tell me you're pregnant. Natsu almost said that one, but thought better of it. Rogue knew what Sting had done. He didn't need the reminder, in any sense. "If you love some part of me that's like Sting, I'll make you love the rest of me too."


	10. Chapter 10

Despite what Natsu had said, he'd kicked Rogue out bright and early the next morning and sent Happy to the guild, where the damn cat had then told Mira that since Rogue was going to be off active duty for some time still he ought to get more experience handling different tasks around the guild and doing more full time shifts. For the second night in a row he came home smelling like beer. Unfortunately, alcohol was only bad for the kid if it went down his throat, not if he had it splashed all over his shirt, so he couldn't excuse himself from the job.

But he had been able to make Wakaba go smoke outside. That had been rather satisfying after the man splashed beer all over his shirt.

The house had a distinct scent yet again as Rogue approached, though Natsu hadn't taken care to make sure the smell wafted out this time. Rogue didn't detect the sweet smells until he opened the door.

Warmth rolled out, greeting him as he escaped the cool outdoor air. The would have put Rogue in as good a mood as he could be in while smelling like a frat house, but the sight that Natsu had painstakingly laid out before him left him too stunned to _have_ a mood.

Red. The whole room was very red. Sheets were draped over everything and rose petals, the kind from flowers grown to smell sweet rather than look impossibly huge, were sprinkled everywhere. Dim candle light made the room glow, flames flickering in the reflection of a bottle of sparkling grape juice. You can't get the full romantic mood when isn't supposed to be drinking any wine.

Rogue looked around, but couldn't see Natsu anywhere. Unsure of what else to do, he slunk into the bathroom and shed the dirty clothes, washing the offensive stench off of himself and wishing that Natsu bought scented soaps so he could get the smell of all those petals off his mind. He didn't know if he was more uncomfortable knowing that had been set up or bathing rather than seeing where Natsu had intended to go with that.

He was sure to shower quick so only the first one could bother him. His heart was pounding so loud as he wondered what might happen that he couldn't even hear the water pouring down on him. The hand that turned the faucet when he was done was shaky, and he slipped up a few times while trying to tie a towel around his waist, cursing himself all the while for not having thought to bring clean clothes into the bathroom with him.

Natsu's scent was all over the house, too strong after years of habitation for Rogue's nose to tell him if Natsu was there or not, and the rose petals didn't help. He settled for peeking out the bathroom door before stepping back into the main room.

This wasn't the end of the world. Sting had tried setting up romantic moods before and gotten kicked been kicked too hard in just the right spot to make anything of that mood in the past. He'd learned not to push Rogue. It must have seemed to him that he had his whole life to get that far anyway. If Natsu was denser than Sting (which might be possible, though he did seem to care more about the wants of others) then Rogue could just let Natsu know that _they_ weren't forever guaranteed either.

His resolution of that waivered when two strong arms wrapped around his chest, and pulled him back into Natsu's. "I slipped out when I heard you coming, but I thought I'd just surprise you while you took in the scene. I never dreamed I'd get you almost naked."

Would it be too subtle if he tightened the towel? Rogue blushed and did his best not to relax or tense up. Act neutral. Act disinterested. That would make him give up. That always made people give up.

So stop blushing.

Natsu laughed. Not his usual, loud, joyful laugh. Something deeper, almost a chuckle. "Happy and Frosch are at Lucy's for the night, so there's no need to worry. Would a drink would help you relax?"

Rogue mumbled something that wasn't quite a word as Natsu pulled him over to the table, sitting him down on a plush red cushion and pouring the juice into a wine glass for him. Rogue hadn't known Natsu even _owned_ wine glasses. He gulped and let his eyes follow the arm holding that bottle up to Natsu's face. Smirking, completely confident. Was _this_ what he'd meant the other day?

"I-I… I'm…"

"Shh." Natsu pressed a finger gently to Rogue's lips, smirk softening slightly. "Drink."

Part of Rogue's mind reminded him that it was just juice. He couldn't smell any sort of date rape drug added into it, and Natsu probably didn't even know date rape drugs existed. That part of him allowed him to nurse the drink while the other part of his mind lamented that he couldn't just get wasted from it and not have to worry about what happened next.

He cursed when he felt a drop roll down his chin and pulled the glass back, intending to wipe it away before Natsu could pull another move he'd no doubt seen in one of those romance movies and-too late! Natsu had leaned over and licked up the juice, pausing for a moment after doing so before he moved up and kissed Rogue.

"This tastes better."

How many movies had he seen? Rogue highly doubted that the whole situation had come out of Natsu's own imagination.

And did that matter?

Rogue kissed back. There was nothing wrong with kissing. They kissed all the time. They kissed just the other night. He was not giving in.

He was on the floor beneath Natsu for the second night in a row when they stopped again, this time it was Natsu who pulled back, laughing the way he normally did.

"Got ya."

"Got… what?" Something in Rogue, something a little lower down than his heart, tugged in annoyance. "Natsu…?"

His lips were parted just the slightest bit, begging to be taken advantage of, and his usually stern expression had completely melted away. It was like his sleeping face, but even better, because this time his face was completely flushed to boot. Natsu fought of the temptation to abort his plan and carry on where he'd left off.

"I got ya. That's payback for ending our make out session last night to talk about the evil. I had to see how flustered I could get you."

When Rogue stared at him, face still red, eyes seeming to be wider than normal, Natsu felt the need to carry on. "I mean… you said you never did anything with your old boyfriend, so I figured you wouldn't let _us_ get that far either. I wouldn't really push you. This isn't even that romantic if you knew how much it cost. Most of this was discounted for being low quality or having stains that don't show in the candle light. The roses were getting old so they were about to be thrown out. I got them for free. Happy and Frosch helped me pick all the petals off of them. I told them I was making a scented bomb as payback."

Maybe it was just that Natsu had completely shaken him out of his usual stoic act, but Rogue laughed at that. "It still looks good. It smells good too."

"Eh… really? You like roses?"

"Not that much."

He'd just never realized how enticing Natsu's scent was.

Natsu's eyes widened, realizing all too clearly that his efforts had been a bit _too_ successful in shaking Rogue up. "O-oh. I… should clean them up then."

"Later," Rogue told him, pulling Natsu back down.

"But if you regret this afterward-I-I-I don't want to force you! You don't want to wait?"

"Screw that. I'm sick of being a pregnant virgin," Rogue told him. Natsu wasn't trying to be sexy anymore, so Rogue took over that duty, eyes drooping as he pulled Natsu into another kiss. What a nice time to have a naturally deep voice. "You want me to like you in more than just the ways I did Sting, right?"

-o-

He felt warm.

Rogue eyes drifted open lazily, mildly curious as to why he was so warm at such a late point in the year, but not overly concerned. He was greeted with Natsu's sleeping face, an innocent grin, a bit of drool seeping out onto his mattress. Rogue sighed, unable to help but smile back, and pushed himself up.

He was a little sore, but that was supposed to be normal, right? If neither of them had known exceptionally well what they were supposed to be doing, then at least neither of them knew how badly the other was screwing up.

With another sigh Rogue lay back down against Natsu, snuggling up against his boyfriend in a way he wouldn't dare were Natsu awake. It had been a good night. He'd have to pick Frosch up later.

-o-

Rogue was sleeping soundly again when Natsu woke up. If he was surprised to find the most guarded member of the guild nuzzled up against him he got over it soon enough. It did pose the problem of how to get up without waking Rogue, but maybe he didn't even want to get up. Who knew when he'd see Rogue looking so cute again? It would probably be even longer before he saw Rogue both cute and naked again. Where had his towel gone, anyway? Natsu vaguely remembered if putting out a few candles the other night as it had been tossed aside, but nothing had burned down so that hadn't been too bad of an idea.

He didn't ever tire of watching Rogue sleep, but at some point it occurred to him that if he was going all the way through with his 'romantic plans' that he'd planned to not go through with then he out to have a nice breakfast ready for Rogue, and it was getting late too. He needed to start before Rogue felt it was necessary to run straight from his bed to work.

The smell of bacon and hash browns would keep Rogue from fleeing, as well as wake him in the most appreciated way possible. Natsu was scrapping the food onto plates for the two of them when he heard Rogue fumbling around for clothes.

"You don't want to shower first?"

"Gajeel and Wendy are both on long term jobs. The scent shouldn't be strong enough for others to pick up, and my hair is always a mess anyway," Rogue told him. What was that strange note in his voice? Natsu looked over his shoulder and saw Rogue smiling. Not a quick reassuring grin. A full on, not-about-to-fade smile. Score. "In any case, it's probably not the largest indicator of what we were up to."

"So if I'm your first and only, that means I must be the dad now."

Rogue's monosyllabic laugh was muffled by the shirt he pulled over his head, his smile more of a smirk as his face emerged from the neck hole. "That only works if I'm not already pregnant."

"How are you feeling right now?"

"Good."

"Just good?"

"Nothing's bothering me at the moment." Rogue sat down at the table while Natsu poured orange juice into two regular cups. "The sheets have to go before Frosch and Happy come back, but I wouldn't mind if we kept the cushions."

"Maybe we should clean the petals up too?"

Rogue nodded and began to dig in.

Natsu waited, giving Rogue a minute to enjoy the meal. He looked a bit more eager than normal, though Natsu couldn't imagine why his appetite would have suddenly… oh.

"Sorry. I had some ingredients set aside to make a quick dinner last night, but I wasn't planning to start until after surprising you. We went to bed without eating."

Rogue nodded, but slowed down a bit when he realized how he must have looked just then. Pigging out on bacon was never good for one's image. Or waistline. He needed new clothes as it was.

"So… how was it?"

"Too crunchy this time."

An image of things snapping under his force flashed through Natsu's mind before he realized what Rogue had meant. "Not the food."

Rogue blushed. "Good."

"Just good?"

"I… don't have much to compare it too," Rogue decided. "It wasn't unenjoyable, although I'm a little uncomfortable for it now. Having gotten that out of my system… I am a bit concerned. It feels like… maybe I _shouldn't_ have been a virgin… at that time. If I was willing to let things go so far with you, I can't understand why I always rejected Sting. I don't know if I'm trying too hard to move on… Although it feels like…" Rogue paused, seeing Natsu's slack jaw. "Sorry. I was too open with my thoughts."

"No. You've made your inner turmoil pretty clear up until now. I was just amazed to hear you say so much in one go." Natsu took a bite of bacon. "If dish ish how t' geb you t' tawk den ah need t' bah moa petawsh."

The smile turned upside-down. "We are not sleeping together whenever you want me to get talkative."

Natsu swallowed. "Kidding. Kidding. I know you're just not chatty."

The scowl faded a bit. Could he still use the afterglow to get that smile back? He sure hoped so. "Well, maybe you just never really liked Sting as much as you liked me."

Rogue laughed at that. Natsu decided to assume the boy's shoulder shaking laughter was out of relief to have an alternative theory for his behavior, and not because that he never really liked someone who's pictures Natsu still caught him staring was such an absurd suggestion.

"Maybe."

"Yeah. Sure."

"Why not?" Rogue asked. "I mean, I definitely don't dislike Sting, but it's possible that I never thought of him quite as someone I wanted to be in a sexual relationship with, and I don't like to think I'd act rashly just to get back at him or try to push him away. It could be the case."

"Maybe." Maybe not. "Or maybe it's just your pregnancy hormones."

The idea cheered Natsu up considerably, even if it kept Rogue from speaking to him for the rest of the morning.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When I was writing this, I spent a lot of time waffling back and forth on whether Rogue should stay with Natsu or return to Sting. At one point, someone suggested I flip a coin to decide.

"So you only want a third as much in here, and then you mix them at this tempo."

Rogue tried his hardest not to yawn while Mira showed him how to make the eighth drink for the day. He'd come to work in a good mood, hormones or not, and she'd decided it was her civic duty to bore it out of him. When Mira wasn't around no one even ordered mixed drinks. People hardly ever ordered them when she _was_ around. Why did he need to be stuffed into a back room for hours learning it all in depth?

"Here, now you try."

What was the first ingredient again? Rogue sighed and scanned the room for something that looked right. Maybe he could smell something familiar… No luck there. Maybe he could just try and listen for any cues Mira might give.

She was perfectly still and silent as he struggled to pick the right ingredient. Couldn't she do _something_? A small hm when his hand nears the damn thing, or a sigh if he passed over it. He didn't pick up any noise from her, but a faint laugh from the main room reached his ear.

Mira cursed under her breath when Rogue looked to the door, which only made him more certain of whose voice he'd recognized. "Is Sting here?"

"He… showed up an hour or so earlier, but the only reason Natsu's not around is because Master sent him out to run errands. It would be good if he's gone before Natsu can-"

Rogue nodded. "I won't be long."

That wasn't what Mira had meant, but she didn't argue. If Rogue wanted to speak with Sting she could hardly stop him without starting a fight, and the master had ordered them all not to give Rogue _any_ reason to fight. Rogue seemed sensible enough, but he did the same insane work as Natsu, and the longer he had to go without any heavy activity for the baby's sake the more tempted he might become to let loose.

So she followed Rogue out into the main room. Even though he'd stared at the different alcohols for a good five minutes (and there had only been ten different ingredients to choose from) it took less than a second for Rogue to spot Sting and make a b-line for him.

Sting looked up as Rogue got close, beaming, though his smile slipped when Rogue was only a few feet away. Rogue's mild excitement to see Sting faded with it, and the realization that he was going to talk to his recent ex right after consummating his new relationship started to sink in.

They stood facing one another, looking around for something to say. Rogue, who knew for sure, and Sting, who could smell it pretty strongly, both shuffled their feet and wondered if saying a simple hello would be enough to make it obvious that they were thinking of what they were both at least pretty certain had happened the previous night.

"You… look good," Sting said finally.

Rogue nodded. "You too."

Mira sighed in relief. They were finally acting like a couple that wasn't a couple anymore!

"You and Natsu…" On the inside Sting was screaming at himself to stop, but he couldn't quite shut up. "The two of you… are getting close then? All of a sudden…"

"I… yes."

Eyes glued to the ground, Sting said something he regretted even more. "I can stop coming around, if you want?"

It took more effort that Rogue liked to admit for him to maintain a neutral expression at the dejected tone in Sting's voice. He needed to do something to push Sting away, or at least enforce the idea that they were only friends now, but the only word that didn't die in his throat was "Stay."

Mira sighed in disbelief.

Sting studied Rogue, the concern in his eyes, for Sting, for his own loss, all too apparent on his face. The uneasy cracks in his usually even look. He really, truly didn't want Sting to leave him alone. He really didn't, but there was no way he and Natsu hadn't slept together-and not just shared a bed-the previous night. Then why…?

Sting said the thing he would regret most that day. "You aren't rushing things with Natsu just to get back at me, are you?"

Rogue's lips pressed into a thin line, even less pleased to hear that from Sting than he was to have ever thought it himself. "If I am, you just gave me a lot more fuel."

Before Sting could try and backpedal Rogue turned and stormed off, suddenly very determined to figure out how to make that god dammed mixed drink. Sting took a few steps to follow him, but stopped, taking a step back and looking away. Everyone who'd been pretending not to listen went back to what they'd been doing before, so he had relative privacy even when Mira moved forward and slapped him.

"For Rogue, since he seems not to have it in him to give you what you deserve."

"My mouth works faster than my brain…" Sting muttered. "Now I have even _more_ to try and make up for."

Mira's hand, which was raising to slap him again, stopped and fell back to her side. She watched Sting as he took detailed mental note of the floorboards. After he went long enough without making any attempts to defend himself or further harass Rogue, she sighed again and said, "He didn't look like he's in the mood to talk to anyone now, so there's no point in me trying to calm him. Maybe _you'd_ appreciate my company more?"

"Are you going to hit me again? Because if you are, I don't think I'd appreciate that much."

"No. Just talk. The master should be out for a bit, so we can go into his office if you'd like."

-o-

Despite Mira's urgings, Sting had too many bad memories with Genma to sit in Makarov's chair. He settled on the master's desk while Mira took a seat in the cushy swivel chair instead. He'd clearly hoped for a moment of silence, but as soon as they were settled she said "You need to stop making this hard on Rogue."

"I'm not trying to make things hard for him. I'm just… trying to fix my screw ups." And he's going around screwing while I do that. Sting managed to stop himself from saying that just in time, but Mira seemed no more impressed when Sting said nothing bad. "I don't want to hurt Rogue anymore. I've done that enough. I get it. If… if he does stay with Natsu then I can't force him… but I don't want him to think I'm moving on yet-and you can't convince me that _he_ is."

She didn't know if even Rogue thought he was. Mira shook her head and told him, "That's fine, but you weren't doing that. All last week you acted how Rogue said you had to: like a friend. Now you're accusing him of using Natsu to hurt you. That's something a jealous ex would do."

"Right…" Sting pulled his legs up onto the desk, resting his forehead on his knees as he said, "I know… just… Rogue and I were together for so long, but we never got past that 'third date' phase. Kissing and holding hands and all that crap. Just… years and years of us being close, but not going all the way. He hasn't even _known_ Natsu for _half_ a year, and already…" He couldn't finish that sentence without making it about himself. That was a problem on its own. If he wanted Rogue back he couldn't be doing anything that ended up being about himself.

"Whatever Rogue's intentions were, you _were_ hurt," Mira finished for him.

"Which is a shame, but there are consequences for your actions."

Sting started and fell off the desk at the sound of Makarov's voice. The guild master chuckled and walked around his desk, taking a seat on Mira's lap before she could get up for him. When she shoved him off his head collided with the desk, and he pulled himself up onto the chair much slower after she got out of it.

Once he and Sting had both recovered, Makarov cleared his throat and said, "It's not my business, but since Natsu explained Rogue's situation to me several months back I've been wondering what exactly _was_ going through your mind when you decided to kick him out. Since you've returned you've clearly realized that you were wrong, whatever you'd thought before, and since Rogue hasn't completely rejected you, you must not have been horrible to him before that incident."

Sting looked away, wondering if he could make it out the window before either of them could grab him. Probably not. He hadn't seen much of the damage Rogue had reported Mira could do, but Rogue wasn't one to embellish, and the guild master was likely even stronger. And speed was Rogue's thing, not his.

"I just… thought he'd cheated on me. I already told Mira that our relationship was PG. So when he came to me saying he was pregnant… why was I supposed to think the kid was mine?"

"Because Rogue said so," Mira deadpanned.

"W-well sure. I mean… he's not the sort who'd lie, but when I asked _how_ , he just kept insisting that he'd had soooo many different doctors all give the same diagnosis and it _had_ to be my kid. He just _knew_ it. Like some woman who slept around and hoped it was the nicest guy who'd ultimately knocked her up. I saw the test results and… I just got confused and… reacted."

"By which you mean you sent Rogue out in the rain and told him not to come home," Makarov verified.

Sting nodded.

"It seemed clear to us. Rogue was caught in that magic accident during the tournament. The spell resulted in his pregnancy," Makarov said. "He told you all that and you couldn't understand?"

"He _didn't_ tell me all that!" Sting cried. "He left any mention of magic _completely_ out! I was half wondering if he'd never let us go any further so I wouldn't find out he was secretly a _girl_!"

Makarov and Mira exchanged glances while Sting attempted to calm himself, taking deep breaths as he leaned over the corner of the desk.

"So then…" Mira paused, "I think you're still not telling _us_ a part of the story. Natsu said Rogue avoided you when the two of them went to get his things. How did you find out about the spell?" From us? Just now? But he'd been there to apologize well before then.

"Ah. Well… that… um…" Sting blushed. "I screwed up… with something else. After Rogue… um… left… I got a little reckless. I took some jobs that I could usually only do with his help, and I got captured by a dark guild." He'd probably have died by their hands, but mentioning that would either make him look weaker in their eyes or make it seem like he was fishing for sympathy, so he didn't bring that up. "An independent guild had been trying to take that group down too. I wasn't supposed to mention them to anyone, so I didn't say anything about it to Rogue, but they brought your guild up, so I thought…"

"Rogue is a part of Fairy Tail now," Makarov said sternly, though his voice melted to a gentler tone as he added, "But we haven't told him about or alliance with Crime Sorcieré yet, so it might have been for the best that you didn't tell him either."

That was the group he'd run into. Relieved that Makarov recognized them, Sting nodded. "They pulled me out. The two girls, at least. The boy was just staying back and firing projectile spells when he had to. I thought maybe he wasn't any good in close combat, but when I got a good look at him he was… better built than me. I asked and he got flustered and started explaining how he'd been in this magic accident during the Grand Magic Games and he was pregnant, and I remembered Rogue getting caught up in that spell that went bad and… it clicked."

"That's odd…" Mira said after a moment of silence. "Jellal doesn't usually _help_ any sort of situations, whatever his intentions."

"He did make moving on to Natsu much harder for Rogue, so he is still making things worse if you look at it from that perspective," Makarov pointed out. If he weren't suggesting that so cheerfully, Sting would have thought he meant it.

"So no matter how many times Sting asked _how_ Rogue got pregnant, Rogue never explained it to Sting. I can understand the confusion then, though I still think it was extreme to make him leave on such a rotten night."

Sting grumbled something about not having been able to see the future, which Mira could only assume meant predicting the weather. "I was hoping I could just explain that to him, beg like a dog for his forgiveness, and then maybe… He had always wanted to see the capital of Joya, so I'd thought I could take him there as the start of a real apology… but by the time I'd figured out what had happened and come back to try and make it up to him, he was with Natsu. He never even showed interest in anyone else and I… the less he acts like himself… the more I feel like I'm just not going to get him back. Especially now. For him to actually go that far… I can't imagine Rogue just deciding he wants to sleep with someone he's still getting to know. I shouldn't have said it to him but… I really just can't see it."

It was an invasion of privacy, but it was nice to know why Rogue had been so upbeat that morning. At least, upbeat for Rogue. On the other hand, it did seem strange to her, as the one who worked with Rogue the most, it seemed unlikely to Mira for someone who was usually so calm and reserved to lay down for someone he'd only known a few months. It could just be that Rogue finally felt he was ready period. It could be that he was getting back at Sting. It could be that Natsu was someone he was more meant for. It could be anything. Anything but expected.

"It's condescending of you to think you influence Rogue that much," Makarov decided, "But I can understand how it might look that way. I'll keep an eye on the two and give my opinion of their relationship. If Rogue is using Natsu to try and get over or get back at you, however unintentionally he may be doing that, then considering how it ended with the two of you I won't stop you from pursuing him. It would be good to let Natsu down easy if that turns out to be the case. However…" Makarov's gaze hardened and he began to grow. "If what they have is true, I will not forgive any interference on your part."

-o-

Officially scared off, Sting made his escape while Mira chastised the master for breaking the room-walls, ceiling, floor and all-after having gotten so mad with her over a silly little counter.


	12. Chapter 12

Normally he'd be able to reach that very top shelf. All he had to do was get on his toes and stand right up against the cupboard to be able to get those stupid glasses. Today there was a bulge in his midsection keeping him from getting close enough.

"Oh dear," Mira sighed. "Well, maybe I can ask someone else to reach it for me."

"I've got it," Rogue insisted, twisting so his back was against the cupboard instead and reaching up behind him. His fingers glimpsed the rim on the glass.

"You don't need to push-"

"Picking up cups in not strenuous activity."

And with him forbidden from carrying heavier trays, she wasn't going to convince him to give up on any other tasks he might have been able to do last month. Mira shrugged and walked over to the other side of the kitchen, watching Rogue try to maintain an even expression as he struggled to grab a glass from such an absurd position.

"So who's a better kisser? Sting, or Natsu?"

"Eh?" Rogue's barely maintained indifferent look shattered, hand jerking as he tried to come up with an answer before it could become apparent how much that had thrown him off, and three glasses were swept off the shelf, two crashing before he could react and catch the third.

Maybe the mess would distract her. Rogue carefully stepped away from the broken glass before glancing from behind his hair at the white haired monster. No luck, she was still watching with her curious, gossip mode look. Of course. She chatted all the time while cleaning. It was a well developed skill.

"Sting or Natsu?" she repeated.

"I suppose… Natsu doesn't have as much practice, but he's better than Sting was at first…" Did he really have to talk about this?

"So Sting's better."

Rogue blushed and looked away. "Anyway, I'll go see if Gajeel can reach those glasses."

-o-

"So you see both shirtless-more or less-pretty often. Who do you think is better looking?"

Rogue shot Mira a look and returned to shelving record.

"That's okay. Sting and Natsu both look pretty nice from the waist up. If you'd get too flustered thinking about it, I don't want you falling off that ladder. Have you ever seen Sting from the waist down? I know you know what Natsu looks like naked."

"Oy," Gajeel snapped. "I'm still carrying stuff for you idiots. Wait till I'm not around."

Rogue nodded and climbed down, taking the next few books off the stack in Gajeel's hand and scooting the ladder over to the next book case.

"Eh…?" Mira giggled. "But I want to know who Rogue thinks is better looking. Do you like blonds? Rosets?"

"Frogs."

"Is… is that so…?"

-o-

Rogue was trying to squat down to find a bag of potatoes that had been pushed to the back of the bottom shelf when he heard Mirajane coming up behind him.

"Hey. Are you stuck?"

"No."

"That's good. I always get worried that some of the awkward positions you get into with your baby will get you trapped. I can dig those out. There's a meal you can carry out to the main room. Someone wants their dinner."

Rogue pushed himself out, rolling over his leg to avoid having to press too hard on his stomach as got up. "I can carry this?"

"Well, it's probably safer for the baby than having you shift through all that dust." Mira shrugged. "And Natsu asked if you could be the one to bring it out when he filled the order."

Yay. More Mira playing cupid.

Wait… Natsu had asked?

Rogue glanced around, spotting the only plate of food ready to go out. A larger plate than normal, but Natsu could probably eat a lot when he wasn't trying to share. Without another word he grabbed it and hurried out of the kitchen. Dinner time was getting busier and busier. Spotting Natsu in the guild when he first started working would have been effortless, but Rogue had to scan through the crowd before spotting him. After a whole day of playing "Sting or Natsu" with Mira he _needed_ to see his boyfriend.

A raised hand caught Rogue's eye, and the pink haired idiot it was attached to brought a smile to his face. He hurried over to Natsu's table, almost spilling his boyfriend's drink as he weaved between the other guild members.

Natsu grinned, snatching the food away when it came within reach so Rogue wouldn't drop it when he wrapped the raven haired slayer in a tight hug. "She kept you all day today. I missed you."

"O-oh," Rogue squirmed. Maybe he'd been too enthusiastic. He'd have to remind Natsu when they got home that he wasn't big on physical contact. Again.

The hug lasted a bit too long to. Had he been worrying Natsu? How? Hadn't he shown he was willing to be in a more serious relationship?

Oh, but Natsu thought that was just hormones, didn't he? Even Sting had said it was just payback. Rogue sighed, relaxing into Natsu's embrace as his boyfriend refused to let go of him. Like if he didn't hold on tight, then Rogue would run away.

"I… I'm sorry… Na-"

"You should be! Mira never takes so long bringing food out. After all the times I've made you dinner, I thought you ought to pay me back for once, but even when I tried to spare you the trouble of having to actually cook it yourself… Ah! I'm letting you get lazy!" Natsu laughed, letting Rogue go. "Well, I ordered a lot, and I already told Mira that you're taking a break. Sit down with me. Eat up."

"Oh…" Rogue blinked, looking down at the plate. It was pretty big for just one person, but it suited two and a half just fine. The baby was almost to the halfway point, right?

When he took a seat, Natsu ginned and patted him on the shoulder. "Take your time. Mira's had you all day, so she can't complain if I get a few extra minutes with you. She and the master need to hire someone else to help out around the guild. You two always look like you're overworked."

"Mm…" Rogue nodded.

"Well? Dig in."

-o-

Stomach full, heart touched, Rogue returned to work in a better state of mind to deal with Mira. Just in time, considering he didn't even have both feet in the kitchen before she asked, "So who would you say was better overall? Natsu and Sting both don't believe you've moved on completely, but if Natsu's better-"

"I haven't," Rogue confirmed, "but I'm not over what Sting did either. No matter what he says, even if I have some share of the blame, even if I don't feel like holding it against him any longer, the fact that it happened will always be there."

"Oh. Then-"

"Here." Rogue dropped a stack of papers into Mira's hand. "Orders to fill. I'll get drinks. You're making work stack up."

"Wait. You didn't answer my question at all. I wasn't asking if you were over what happened."

"No. I'm not over Sting either."

"So despite everything you're doing… you don't really love Natsu?" Mira asked. How bittersweet. She could imagine how happy Sting would be to hear that… but she could just as easily see the look on Natsu's face when he learned-

"No. I'm not the kind of person who could decide I love someone in only a few months," Rogue replied. "I still have feelings for Sting. For all I know that won't ever change, but they're not as strong as before. I wouldn't say I love Natsu, but right now I'm not sure I love Sting either." He chuckled. "Living with Natsu… is nice though," he muttered, looking back over at the door out to the main room. "At least so long as he keeps that house clean. When he tries, he isn't too rough…" a moment from a few nights ago, in bed, with red sheets and rose petals, flashed through Rogue's mind, and he had to shake his head to clear his thoughts. "You can ask until the end of time, but right now I couldn't tell you… Sting or Natsu… I'd feel bad if it turned out I didn't love Natsu more, after all he's done for me, but I wouldn't forgive myself if I abandoned Sting simply out of gratitude to someone I didn't feel as strongly for. You can ask me which I prefer until you lose your voice. It doesn't matter. I don't know the answer."

He turned to face Mira. "You can have all the fun you want trying to play cupid with me, but there's really nothing fun about a love triangle like this."

"You hurt someone either way…"

Rogue nodded. "Whichever answer will make you stop pestering me, pretend I said that. I need more time before I can give an honest answer to them"


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have a lot of trouble remembering to include the exceed in scenes.

Rogue stepped back, carefully weaving between the guild hall tables while keeping an eye on the growing fight. Part of him itched to get in on it. To do _something_ after so many week of taking it easy. The rest of him had gone full maternal, and was more concerned with making sure he got himself out of there without and harm coming to his stomach.

He should have known better than to let Sting come to the guild. Not that he'd gone and outright invited Sting, but it wouldn't have hurt to discourage him at some point when Natsu wasn't there. They were bound to meet in the one place in town where they couldn't be banned for starting a full on brawl eventually. At least the master didn't seem to concerned. He was still napping.

Rogue climbed up to the second floor and watched Sting and Natsu, secretly rooting for Elfman to pull out from behind. He had a prime spot for watching, with all visible from his private perch and no one else up there. That didn't mean he was thrilled to see the fight. It would be nice if those idiots didn't need to get physical whenever they saw the other with him. Rogue was wondering what sort of ultimatum he could give for that when he felt the muscle in his stomach clench.

He gasped, bending over and clutching his belly and taking deep breaths until the pain faded. What was that? A contraction? It was too soon! He was only half way through the pregnancy!

He looked back at the stairs, which looked much too long as the muscles clenched again. He groaned and waddled awkwardly over to them, whimpering when another wave hit mid step and his legs nearly gave out beneath him.

Someone who'd been thrown into a nearby table looked up and saw Rogue, pale and sweating, and rolled onto their feet. "You okay?" Gray asked.

Rogue shook his head. Too focused on keeping from hyperventilating to say anything more.

Gray cursed and ran up to Rogue, first feeling the boy's stomach-since he was clutching it so tightly-then helping hold him steady once he felt the muscles beneath Rogue's skin ripple. "Braxton hicks? Seems soon."

"I know," Rogue grunted. "If it's the real thing…"

Gray looked at the ongoing brawl. Would either of Rogue's suitors notice if he called out and said the boy they were fighting over was in trouble? Maybe, but then they'd just fight over who got to help him.

"Here," Gray said, sweeping Rogue up bridal style. "I'll get you to the hospital."

Now was hardly a time to worry about how pathetic he must have looked. Rogue nodded weakly let himself go limp in his savior's arms.

-o-

"I can't believe I was shown up by Gray…" Natsu muttered.

Sting grunted. He wasn't upset about Gray particularly. Natsu was the only one in Fairy Tail he had a rivalry with. His issue was just that _someone_ other than him had been the one to come to Rogue's aid. He'd rather have that than no one noticing Rogue was in pain-he knew Natsu felt the same-but he still couldn't help but wonder how poorly the day's incident must have reflected on him.

A doctor stepped out of Rogue's room, and they both stood. The man smiled at them and nodded. "He's fine. Just a series of oddly times cramps with a helpful does of panic. We're going to keep him for the night to make sure there really aren't any contractions, but he should be out tomorrow morning. You can go see him, if you'd-" Natsu and Sting rushed past, bickering over who went through the doorway first. "…If you'd like…" the doctor coughed and stood back, deciding he might need to listen from outside incase the two caused any trouble.

Inside his room, Rogue watched with a mix of amusement and annoyance as the two tried to shove one another out of the way and squeeze through the door first. In the end they tumbled to the tiled floor in unison.

"Good job," he told them.

"Fro thinks so too," Frosch cheered. She'd rushed to the hospital when Happy flew home and reported what happened. Since the doctors had only been able to get a grasp on her when she flew into Rogue's arms-and he hadn't let her go-they'd given up on keeping her out while they ran a checkup on him.

Natsu and Sting picked themselves up, blushing as the brushed off their clothes and walked more calmly to his bedside.

"Sorry," Natsu said first. "I should have… been paying more attention. You were hurt and… I'll be better in the future."

Sting nodded, chewing on his lip and averting his gaze.

Rogue, on the other hand, lit up like a lamp. What a perfect chance to compare them on even ground.

"It's alright," he told them. "It turned out not to be serious."

"So the baby's fine?" Sting asked over Natsu's next apology. "It's not in any danger after that scare, right?"

Rogue shook his head, but Frosch was the one who answered. "They said Fro's little brother or sister is still okay. Rogue thinks they're happy to get all the attention."

Rogue blushed.

"Happy?" Natsu asked. "How could you even tell?" He didn't get that at all.

But Sting did. His eyes lit up and he leaned forward, grabbing Rogue's hand and asking, "Are they moving? You can feel the baby moving?"

Rogue nodded.

"Rogue's been feeling the baby all week," Fro reported cheerfully.

"If you ask to touch my stomach, I will remove your hand," Rogue added, giving Natsu and Sting each a warning look.

Sting's shoulders slumped, a comical look of defeat on his face. Natsu shrugged. Rogue had already given up on hiding his stomach. If he pressed, Rogue would probably give up on his hands off policy too.

"So you're alright?" Sting verified. "You aren't uncomfortable or sick or-"

"I'm pregnant. Of _course_ I'm uncomfortable." To Rogue's dismay, both boys laughed at that. His misery was not a joke!

"And hospitals are never fun either," Natsu added for Rogue. "This place smells awful. If this happens again, maybe I can just take you home to rest. _I'm_ carrying you in the future."

"That hospital bed probably isn't helping…" Sting noted, trying his best to ignore that last declaration. "Can I bring you something? A pillow that isn't half plastic?"

"That would be nice."

Not about to be shown up, Natsu leaned over Rogue's bed, putting his weight on it as he said, "I can still visit in a few hours, right? Hospital food is always disgusting. They aren't letting you leave tonight, so I can bring you dinner."

Sting ched and looked away. Dinner would easily trump a pillow. He was still losing when it came to meals.

Rogue nodded, biting down on his tongue to keep himself from looking too excited by that. He needed to keep things even here, so no showing that he was more excited to hear about the meal.

Natsu was halfway out the door with Frosch asked, "Does Fro get hurt to for wanting to feel Rogue's tummy? It was okay yesterday."

Rogue smiled, picking the cat up and placing her on his stomach. "There you go."

Natsu and Sting both watched, learning for the first time just how jealous one could be of a cat, regardless of whether or not they thought they'd get to feel the baby move later. Rogue had gone from thanking them for their offers to help to focusing solely on the pink, frog shaped object resting on top of him, scratching behind Frosch's ear through her costume as she lay down and moved her paws around to try and find places where the baby might be kicking. It was a much less successful endeavor than Frosch's excited giggles made it seem. Very few of the child's movements were already strong enough to be felt from the outside.

Swallowing, Natsu left to make sure he had a nice meal ready for Rogue before visiting hours ended. If it meant leaving Rogue with Sting for a few hours… hopefully the meal would make up for any damage that did. If he was really lucky, Sting would go to get that pillow.

Sting wasn't going to waste all his (mostly) alone time with Rogue making a purchase though. With Natsu gone he stepped forward, brushing a few strands of hair out of Rogue's face and asking for what Rogue felt was the hundredth time, "You're sure nothing's wrong?"

"They didn't find any problems." Rogue glanced up that the clock, still scratching Frosch's ear absentmindedly. "They wanted to run an additional checkup on the baby in about ten minutes. If…" he paused. Was he really going to offer this?

Sting pressed his lips tight, worry becoming evident on his features. "You'll let me know if they find something wrong?"

How odd… Sting hadn't said a word about his failure to help Rogue when the false labor had been going on, but then Natsu hadn't asked about the baby at all. Now if only one of them could care about both parts…

Rogue sighed. If Sting was the one who was more focused on the kid, then why not make the offer? "They're going to do an ultrasound. If you want to know the baby's gender, feel free to stay and ask them. I'll let the doctor know it's alright. But if you tell me, I'll throttle you." Thus the reason he wouldn't even dream of giving Natsu the chance to know before him.

Sting laughed, relief and anticipation lightening his mood considerably. "Alright then. After that, I'll run out and get you some nicer stuff to sleep with. Not all of us can get comfortable as easily as Frosch.

Frosch? Rogue looked down to his stomach, where the little frog-cat had curled up and fallen asleep. "Mm… that's an envious skill."


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Baby names. Also setup for some later stuff.
> 
> Jellal and Erza's baby comes up here. I still have the outline for a story following his pregnancy. It was shorter and fluffier. I've got a couple projects I want to do next. Maybe I'll revive plans for that one. But then maybe not...

Natsu had spent the first two weeks after Rogue's surprise hospital visit hanging around the guild and keeping a close eye on Rogue for any more signs of trouble with the pregnancy.

"The doctor said there was a chance you could end up with a lot of difficulties. If your condition does get bad, then I should be there to help you. I can cancel the hotel reservations and stay home to nurse you until you're ready to have the baby," he'd said.

Rogue had completely forgotten about the hotel, but he'd only let that stop him from his latest 'don't coddle me' fit momentarily. He'd grabbed Natsu's arm and led him to the job board and said, "Someone else from the guild can notice if I need help again. If you want to spend that much time with me later, you'd better make sure you can afford it now."

But Natsu was never taking jobs that lasted more than a day. Less-if he could afford it. Once, Rogue had caught him giving school kids a special lesson on learning magic right there in Magnolia. He didn't have to ask why. Even if Natsu no longer haunted the guild, he was always there on time to walk home with Rogue after work. It went without saying that he also walked Rogue to work.

"So I can still make sure you're okay when the guild isn't there to do it for me," Natsu would always say to justify the walks.

Then maybe he'd asked Mira to walk with Rogue that night, since he had _needed_ to work, and nothing could be completed before Rogue's shift ended. If the coddling went on much longer, Rogue swore he was going to stab someone.

No sooner had the thought crossed his mind than did Mira turn down a different street.

"Oh. You live that way? I thought you were going back to work after this."

Mira shook her head. "Master finally hired some girls from around town, so they can fill in for me. Come on. I have a surprise for you."

It would be less painful if he got it over with quickly. Rogue sighed and followed Mira down a street he didn't take often, waiting as she stopped at a building that smelled strongly of Natsu and knocked on the front door.

The door opened to reveal Lucy, who squeaked when she saw them. "It's not ready yet! One more minute!" she cried before slamming the door in Mira's face.

"I'm going," Rogue told her. He couldn't quite put his finger on it. But something about Lucy's-house-that-smelled-like-Natsu just bothered him.

Mira grabbed Rogue's arm and held him firmly in place until Lucy came back and let them in.

"Sorry. Mira brought you earlier than she said she would, and we were still getting everything arranged right," Lucy explained as she led them upstairs.

We?

Realization struck just as Lucy reached out to grab the door to her room. Rogue had only a moment to brace himself before he was thrust inside and met face to face with a popper.

"Surpise!" Everyone called.

_Everyone_? How many were there? Rogue stumbled backwards, tripping over his feet and landing on his butt as he tried to assess how many people they'd crammed into Lucy's room. All female. All staring. Well… shit.

"Are you okay?" Levy asked, bending over to make sure Rogue hadn't somehow harmed the baby by not bumping his stomach against anything.

"Mm… Fine."

Shit, shit, shit. Too many people watching him. Rogue scampered to his feet and stepped behind Mira as she came forward to announce the beginning of his baby shower.

"Well, what do you think?" Mira asked him. "We were going to do this during the guild's New Year's party, but when I asked Natsu if you were planning to come he said no. A mom can't miss their own baby shower. So?"

"If I'm a guy… shouldn't the men in the guild have put this on?" Then Natsu would be there to help him sneak out.

"No. Baby showers are a girls only event. We're making an exception for you," Mira told him.

"Jellal didn't even bother asking about guys when Ultear and I put together a celebration for him," Erza added, glossing over the fact that Jellal didn't have extended contact with any human males. "Settle down. There's no need to tremble. We won't bite."

"He has Natsu to bite for him," Mira snickered.

"I'm… going home," Rogue decided. "Thanks anyway."

One cry amongst all the disappointed complaints made his ears perked up, and he gave Lucy's room a more thorough lookover, spotting Frosch just as the little exceed asked, "But if Rogue goes then who's going to open all the presents?"

"F-Frosch! What are you… shouldn't you be…"

"It's a girls only party. Fro and Carla get to come!" Frosch cheered. "Rogue, stay!"

"Come onnnnn!"

"Stay!"

"Just take it easy for the night."

"Fro wants to play with Lucy and Rogue and Mira and Levy and Wendy and Evergreen and…"

Rogue groaned and threw his hands up in surrender. He would _not_ be 'taking it easy' if the whole event had to be about him, but he was growing more and more certain that he'd never hear the end of it if he did try to duck out. If not from the girls, then from Frosch.

-o-

"Oh. Look. Another stuffed animal."

Levy laughed uncomfortably as she held out her teddy bear sized gift. Rogue set it with the others without having unwrapped it (which earned a more earnest laugh from everyone) before accepting the next gift and fumbling with the wrapping. Why? _Why_ did they have to keep staring at him like that? What could possibly be so fascination that they'd watch hands shake as he unwrapped a…

Oooo. What a pretty baby mobile. The box had a see through side with a small opening that allowed people to test the product before purchasing it. To humor the audience, Rogue gave it a test spin and watched all the star decorations align with an artistic touch that a newborn would never appreciate. With each new position that it swiveled into, the dangling stars formed a different constellation. There hadn't been a label on the outside of the wrapping saying who it was from, but he knew to look to Lucy and nod his thanks anyway.

All in all, most of the gifts were pretty well thought out. Sure, he did end up with two stuffed bears, three bunnies, the most harmless looking tiger you'd ever seen, a little dragon that Rogue suspected would end up in Natsu's hammock rather than little Alex's crib, and several bottles of baby food that would go bad long before they could be used, but the mobile had started off a series of real toppers. A nice stroller. A diaper changing station. A play pen. Laky had even made a crib, though she'd had to disassemble it to box it up for him.

"Rogue needs to open Fro's gift, too," Frosch said before they could move on to… oh God. Someone had set up a poster for pin the tail on the donkey. Why?

"Right. Let's see it," Rogue said, eager to put off that event. Whatever Frosch got would have come out of his wallet anyway, but it would almost certainly be a cute gift nonetheless.

Frosch held up the gift, almost her size. Rogue took it from her hands and unwrapped… _Infant Care for Dummies_.

"Happy helped Fro pick the book out."

-o-

After they'd gotten over his claim that he wasn't interested in playing with them, the donkey had gotten everyone's attention off of Rogue. He took the moment of peace to arrange the gifts in a more coherent order that would be easier for Mira and Erza-who had volunteered-to carry back to his and Natsu's house. Afterward he set about pampering Frosch. He attempted to include Carla, but she was unimpressed with his efforts.

The donkey had the added benefit of getting the girls talking to one another, rather than all trying to chat with Rogue. When they finally tired of the game and came to sit back with Rogue it felt no different from any other event. There was something being celebrated, and he happened to be there. Not his favorite setting, but not one that made him anxious either.

A few more games were attempted without Rogue or nixed all together. Finally, Juvia declared that Rogue had to participate in _something_ before the end of the night, so whatever was suggested next he was going to be a part of. Before she'd even finished the declaration, Mira had set an empty glass bottle down sideways on the floor.

"Gather round," she told everyone. "Now, here's the rules. Someone spins the bottle. Whoever it lands on must confess something about their love. Then they spin and the process repeats. It goes until everyone's spoken once. If it keeps landing on you, you may be confessing all night."

Rogue sighed and settled into the circle that everyone formed around the bottle. He sat cross legged, leaning back slightly so he'd be bending around his stomach as little as possible. Not that he was quite large enough yet for it to be an issue, but feeling the baby move was making him paranoid and it was a habit he was trying to get into.

Mira spun first, holding her breath and releasing it in disappointment each time the bottle neck passed either Rogue or Lucy. Finally, it landed on Bisca.

"We already know who she likes," Cana complained.

Bisca nodded. "Alzack snores."

That got a laugh out of a few of the looser ones. Bisca waited for them to settle down before spinning as well.

"Um…" Levy blushed as the bottle stopped on her. "Uh… G-G-Ga… uh…"

"Gajeel," Lucy told her.

"Right. Gajeel… All he talks about right now are these dumb demolition derbies. He can't get in vehicles anymore without getting sick, so I think he just likes seeing all that metal crashing into things. Or maybe it's a guy thing," she muttered.

Evergreen waited for Levy's bottle spin to land on her before saying, "It's a _man_ thing. Elfman mentions it often now too-which I only bring up because we were already on the topic. It's not as if I have my own man to confess anything on."

Rogue didn't get why everyone snickered at that. He didn't recognize the derby event either, despite Evergreen's flustered insistence that it was growing in popularity and that, not Elfman, was the focus of her 'confession'. Maybe being pregnant made him less of a man that he thought-or maybe it was a dumb spectator event that wouldn't have interested him pregnant or not. Probably the second one.

When the bottle landed on Juvia she confessed her crush on Gray as if it were meant to be a secret. It hit Levy again and she mentioned how she thought Gajeel liked her more as an armrest than as a girl. The spinning bottle finally stopped on Rogue, and Mirajane squealed in delight.

"You're crush," she said. "Say something about him. Is it Sting or Natsu?"

"Does it matter?" Rogue asked. "They're both spiky haired idiots."

"Fro thinks so too!"

Before Mira could argue, Rouge leaned forward and spun the bottle.

"Jellal hates strawberry cake. The first time I snuck him into Magnolia, so we could spend more time together before the baby is born, I tried to bake it with him, but the smell made him sick. Now he refuses to try it. I'm… worried we might not work out."

"Mira, I'm telling you, _there is nothing between me and Natsu_. W-what? No! Juvia, I'm not pinning for Gray either! You can have him!"

"Sometimes, I suspect Alzack lets Asuka play with his guns when I'm out and he's busy at home. He'd have more sense than that, right?"

"Fro really likes Lily, and Happy, and Lector, and Rogue, and Natsu, and Sting, and Gray, and… What? Just one?"

"Since Lucy says it's alright, Gray is going to be Juvia's boyfriend."

"To be honest… Laxus… I think… is kind of cute."

"If Fro only gets to pick one boy, then Rogue is the best."

"Hmph. Well, I certainly wouldn't want to do anything with Happy."

"Both? Fine… Sting slept with a nightlight until he was sixteen. I don't know of anything like that for Natsu. His idiocy is more apparent at first glance, anyway."

"Wah? Why does Rogue get two? Fine. Fro gets to have Lector too!"

-o-

So it hadn't ended up a total disaster, even if their last game had gone on past midnight since, somehow, the bottle had never landed on Mira herself. They'd called it quits when Wendy fell asleep sitting up. Juvia was carrying the girl home.

"You can skip work tomorrow," Mira said when she caught Rogue yawning. "You and the baby need your rest. It's my fault you were up late anyway. I'll let the master know."

Rogue nodded.

"About the baby…" Erza shifted the box containing the unassembled crib so she'd be able to peer down at Rogue's stomach. "Is it moving? Jellal says Kiseki does jumping jacks while he's trying to go to sleep."

Rogue nodded again. "Alex isn't moving right now, but I know what that's like."

"Rogue needs to let Natsu feel his tummy," Frosch murmured. The suggestion took Rogue by surprise. Not because it was uncommon. Frosch, Natsu, and Happy all brought it up several times a day. He's just thought the exceed he was carrying was fast asleep by then.

Mira giggled. "So you and Natsu settled on Alex?"

Actually, the two of them hadn't mentioned names at all. Alex had just grown on him to the point that he didn't care what name Natsu might want. He shrugged.

"Well, next time Alex is moving around at work, let me know."

Rogue nodded, which he was doing a lot of, but this time it was special because what he actually meant by nodding was "fat chance."

He let Erza and Mira talk, occasionally answering a question or two as they escorted him back home. The conversation turned to focus more on Erza's boyfriend at some point. Rogue had to admit that he would have liked to meet another pregnant male, but it seemed like the man had his own petty drama, and Rogue didn't feel like putting up with any more of that.

At the door to Natsu's house, Rogue bid Mira farewell. He could wheel the stroller and the goodies it contained into the building. Carrying the soon to be crib, he had to admit, was a bit much while he was already carrying a baby, so he let Erza inside.

"This is much cleaner than I'd expected," Erza noted as she leaned the box against a wall. "You got Natsu to live like this?"

"Yeah."

"At first, Rogue would clean up all the time after Natsu," Fro told Erza. "Then Rogue said Natsu had to clean too, and when Natsu refused, Rogue hid his scarf. So now Natsu helps with dishes and the floor and… the…" She fell asleep.

Rogue tucked Frosch into bed and pulled his own nightwear out. Erza didn't get the hint. So he turned to her and bowed slightly. "Thank you for your help. I need to get cleaned up before I get to bed, so-"

"Oh! Of course." Erza nodded. "I'll leave. Rest. You're fortunate to have such a nice, secure place to do so."

It wasn't until after he'd showered and crawled in with Frosch that Rogue realized that hadn't been a slight at his near miss with being homeless.


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Floofy fluff stuff.

If he was perfectly still, how long could he go without being noticed?

Natsu held his breath and went rigid, watching from behind as Rogue scooted Mr. Hopper across the table. In the wordless play Rogue was putting on for himself, it seemed that Mr. Hopper was having some dispute with Sir Honey, likely because the evil dragon Fishlogia had abducted Stripy the Tiger. Luckily, King Bear, who was the ruler for being the largest, and for having lived in the house kingdom since the day of the amusement park, was coming to settle the dispute. At least, that's what Natsu guessed was going on.

He had a good thing going, standing there and suffocating himself while Rogue was probably at his pinnacle of cute, un-Rogue-like behavior. Of course Frosch had to ruin it.

"Does Natsu want to play with Rogue?"

His presence discovered, Natsu gasped for air while Rogue whirled around, desperately hoping that Frosch had just said that to scare him.

"Ah… Nats… uh…" Rogue gulped and covered his mouth with his hand as his cheeks turned red enough to rival Erza's hair. "Y-you… when…?"

Seeing that his poor pregnant boyfriend was trembling, Natsu cleared his throat as said, "Don't be embarrassed. It was really cute."

"C-cute?"

"Yeah. You don't usually act so-"

He was startled out of his sentence when Rogue catapulted up and grabbed his vest, yanking him towards the door. Before he knew it, he was standing outside, door slamming shut and even locking behind him. Odd. He didn't know his house _had_ a lock. Rogue must have added one at some point.

"H-how much did you see?" Rogue asked from the other side of the door.

"Eh? Not too much. I came in when Fishlogia was killing Duke Blackington. That's what was happening, right?"

Silence.

"Rogue?" Natsu asked, giving the door a test knock. "Let me back in. I want to see if King Bear is able to stop Fishlogia. Rogue?"

"Stop it…" Rogue muttered. "You're laughing at me, right?"

"No, I'm talking to you."

"But you think it's funny!" Rogue cried. "Seeing me… you…"

"I never said-"

The door swung back open to reveal Rogue, face still bright scarlet, tears pooling at the corner of his eyes. "Liar!" he screamed before slamming the door again.

Natsu almost broke down the door and shouted something back, but stopped his hand just in time to keep from wrecking his own house. Still, Rogue was acting strange. Would he be even more upset if Natsu asked about hormones?

Sighing, Natsu sat down in the snow and waited for Rogue to calm down. He wasn't Gray, but he generated enough heat that the cold wasn't usually a bother. He just needed to wait… and wait… in rotten weather… and…

"Y'know..." Natsu said after a few minutes, "This is kinda like how you got kicked out."

For a moment he thought Rogue would ignore him, or maybe hadn't heard. But those dragon slayer ears were working, because Rogue asked, "Is it?"

"Well… kinda. I mean, I don't mind too much but… I would like to come back in."

"Go away."

"And never show my face again," Natsu muttered without thinking. "Ah! Sorry. I'm mad at Sting, not you. I don't get how you can put up with him coming around after what he did. Was he here yesterday? I thought I smelled him."

"…He stopped by the guild. He heard about the baby shower, and he wanted to bring something for Alex."

"Oh. Is that what we're calling the baby?"

No response.

"Alright," Natsu grumbled. "Don't tell me. It's not like-"

"Natsu?"

"Yeah?"

"What do you know… about caring for an infant?"

"Well, you've got to feed it, right? And change diapers."

"That's it?"

"Is there more too it?" Natsu asked.

"A bit… never mind."

"Well, that's something we don't need to know yet. But Rogue… why do you let Sting keep coming back? I'm just sitting out in the snow for a little bit, but what he did to you was too much."

Rogue sighed. "You have good hearing?"

"Yeah."

"Well, so do I. So I heard… when the guild master and Sting and Mira thought they were talking in private… how Sting ended up thinking I had cheated on him. The guild… doesn't have that thick of walls. He overreacted. I know. But… I caused him grief too…"

It had been a while since Rogue's speech had gotten so halting. Natsu sat forward and pressed an ear against the door to see if-ah, yes. That was definitely a sob. Muffled, but he _did_ have good hearing.

"Rogue, if you're not going to let me come back in, why not hold onto-" he caught himself before he could suggest snuggling a stuffed animal for comfort. "Frosch is in there with you."

"Fro can hug Rogue," a little voice agreed.

Natsu nodded. "Alright. Let me know when Rogue is feeling better, okay Frosch? I'm getting a bit cold waiting out here, and talking to Rogue is just causing trouble. I'm gonna go pick a fight with Gray for liking this white crap."

Maybe that had been the wrong thing to call the snow, because Natsu heard Frosch squeak and complain about Rogue tightening his grip as he walked away.

-o-

"Rogue is holding Fro too tight!"

"Sorry."

Rogue loosened his grip, letting Frosch squirm out of his arms and crawl down onto his lap. If he got that careless with his baby… "Frosch?"

"Hm?"

"Thank you. For the book," Rogue said. Even if the title was insulting, he'd only needed to read two pages to see that it was a perfect fit for him. Child rearing was foreign territory.

"Happy helped, and the books Sting brought yesterday were better."

Guides on toys that helped a baby develop leg strength, short stories that were good for reading to a young child, enough quick read articles on things that helped a newborn grow to keep a person occupied for weeks. It was like Sting had grabbed everything he could find that advised on taking care of a baby (and didn't include an insults in the title) and wrapped it all up for Rogue. That he was able to rattle off a lot of the information he thought Rogue would most like had made it all the better.

"Does Natsu need to read the dummy book?"

"Probably." Gently scooting Frosch off of him, Rogue rose to his feet and pressed an ear against the door. Once he was sure Natsu wasn't waiting outside he undid the lock. He'd probably be in a better mood later. No sense in trapping Natsu out of his own house. "I'm going to shower. If you want to play with the dolls-"

"Fro wants to shower too." Rogue paused and looked to his little friend for confirmation. "Fro's dirty."

"I know you washed up this morning."

Slipping out of her suit, Frosch licked her paws and began to systematically scruff up all the fur on her body. When she finished she looked up at Rogue and declared, "Fro's a mess."

Unable to resist smiling at that, Rogue sighed and picked Frosch up. "Let's get you cleaned up then."

-o-

A warm shower had washed away Rogue's bad mood, and gotten Frosch shiny to boot. He helped the little frog-kitty redress and set about finding something to keep himself occupied until Natsu came back. He'd have to apologize. It had been silly of him to get so worked up. Sure, it had been embarrassing, but Natsu wasn't Happy. As long as he asked, no one would ever hear about it.

His eyes drifted back to the dolls, but Natsu or Happy could come in at any moment. He let Frosch roll around with them instead while he looked over Natsu's book collection. It had changed a lot since he'd first arrived. Most of the books that had once been there had been returned to Lucy's, only to be replaced with stories from her next shelf down.

Her old shelf had been more interesting. After fanning through a forth book Rogue gave up and started pacing around the room, scanning for any little messes he might be able to take care of. Finding none, he settled for doing something he hadn't had to in a long time: cooking.

But once the dough had been mixed, rolled into little balls, and placed in the oven, Rogue still had to wait a never ending twenty minutes before he could eat his cookies. Twenty minutes… Natsu couldn't have left more than an hour ago, and Happy would likely come back with him. If it was just twenty minutes…

He almost locked the door again, but didn't trust himself to remember to unlock it after. He'd just count on Natsu to want to spend time with friends. That was probably the most reliable aspect of Natsu's personality.

Taking a deep breath, Rogue went back over to the table and picked Fishlogia back up, resuming his story about the tiger and the dragon who had run away so no one could interfere with their love, and how the evil bears were trying to capture and separate them.

The wedding was just beginning when the door burst open. Rogue dropped the dolls and spun around, readying an excuse for when Natsu saw him at play again.

"Hey, sorry. Meant to knock. So I got back home yesterday and saw that I'd forgotten to grab this one and…" Sting paused, book on ways to make children eat healthy slipping out of his hand as he realized just what he'd walked in on. "And… uh…"

"We can come back later," Lector offered.

"Please," Rogue told them.


	16. Chapter 16

The smell of burnt wood was everywhere. Natsu had gotten a little carried away sparring with Gray, and the two had been told to stay until all the charred or shattered furniture had been cleaned up. The master didn't care if someone had a train to catch or a boyfriend with stuffed animals waiting at home for them. Well, given how embarrassed Rogue had seemed, Natsu held off on mentioning the stuffed animals, but he had told Makarov that he suspected Rogue had forgotten how to cook for himself. The two were rushing to get everything cleaned up before they might end up being late.

The smell of burnt wood was everywhere, but the smell of burnt food was strange. Mira was a good chef, and the lady Makarov had hired recently to help in the kitchen was even better. The woman had such a natural talent that she assumed people were trying to mess up when their dishes didn't come out perfect.

"You must really hate this boy, if you were cooking _that_ for him," she was saying.

"I'm trying. It's just that I'm not used to doing this…"

Natsu bristled.

"Then I take it you've been starving yourself the past half a year?"

"No, but my food budget has tripled. Restaurants are expensive."

Gray looked up as Natsu tiptoes towards the kitchen, trembling from the effort to control himself. The last thing either of them wanted was to have even more clean up, Gray assumed, so he took it upon himself to run ahead of Natsu and preemptively defuse to explosion that was going to start ticking off any second.

"Sting," Gray called as he slid into the kitchen. "Hey, I didn't know you were here."

"Oh. Well, I was going to see Rogue, but… it seemed like a bad time." Sting sighed. "I couldn't make Lector carry me home right after we got here, and I didn't want to take a train, so I came to see if Elsa could help me learn to cook." Although Lector had gotten bored and flown home anyway, leaving him determined to see Rogue so that the train ride wouldn't be for nothing.

"I think this one might truly be a lost cause," Elsa, the new cook, said. "He's burned the chicken salad. I don't know how. I'd already cooked the chicken. All he had to do was mix mayonnaise into the meat and set it in the fridge."

"Well, let her finish making everyone's dinner," Gray said. "You can come help me and Natsu clean-" he had to raise his voice over Natsu's roar of protest "-and I wanted to talk to you anyway."

"Really?" Sting raised an eyebrow. "And you want to talk about…?"

"Uh… nothing." Gray admitted. "Come help me clean. I have a train to catch and I can't leave until Flame Brain's mess is all picked up."

Sting considered it. He _did_ like that an insult to Natsu had been thrown in there, and the honesty was appreciated. "Fine. I owe you one for getting Rogue to the hospital anyway."

Gray nodded and led Sting out into the main room, past Natsu, and to the ground zero that was the remains of the bar that had been demolished earlier that day. "Gramps is replacing this stuff tomorrow, but he wants it cleared out tonight," Gray explained. "We just need to get it all moved behind the guild hall."

"Simple enough."

"Yes. Much simpler than mixing mayo with an already cooked bird."

Sting flipped Gray a bird of his own before picking up the nearest chunk of former table and hauling it towards the back door.

"At least I know I'll always have cooking over him," Natsu muttered, getting back to work himself.

Whatever Sting had responded with, it had been too soft for Gray to make out. He still had to leap up and stop Natsu from charging after Sting, roaring "Well you can shove that up your-"

" _Clean_." Gray insisted. "The sooner we get this done with, the sooner you can get back to Rogue.'

Natsu grumbled and gathered up an armful of smaller wood shards before running out after Sting.

At least one of them didn't have a compulsive need to destroy everything in sight. Sting wasn't opposed to arguing with Natsu, but he didn't take much work to keep focused on the mess they were dealing with. Natsu, on the other hand, required constant reminders that another fight would only mean he'd go longer without being able to see the one who would be fought over.

"Does Rogue wait for you?" Sting asked out of the blue. "I get that he's usually working here, but when you come back from jobs at odd hours, or on days he has off, what does he do? We never split up like that while we were together."

The words 'split up' almost made Natsu snap again, but he bit back any comments on it and answered the question as curtly as possible. "Rogue does what he wants. He might meet me at the train station. He might leave a note saying what he wants for dinner and disappear until the middle of the night." That had only happened once, but it had scared Natsu badly enough that he couldn't _not_ use it as an example.

"Is that so…?" Sting asked.

"Of course, you didn't _want_ him around your house, so there's no reason you should have known," Natsu added.

Gray tensed, looking to see if Sting would be provoked by that. Rather than raise a fist, the blond's shoulders sagged, if only for a moment. Sting quickly straightened and replied, "Yeah. I was stupid to think Rogue would have been unfaithful while we were together. Turns out I didn't have to worry at all about him pretending there wasn't anyone else he wanted to see." He smirked. "Too bad you can't say the same."

Natsu _did_ launch himself at Sting, who raised the flat end of a ruined table as a makeshift shield to block the first attack. Seeing the charred edges halted Natsu before he could strike. No more messes. The sooner everything was cleaned up, the sooner he could get home to his boyfriend and work on making sure the name 'Sting' was completely wiped from Rogue's memory.

He stepped back and returned to gathering up wood fragments, but couldn't help but add, "So you _still_ think Rogue's unfaithful? You really don't change. I don't get how Rogue thinks you might deserve to breath the same air as him. You're no good for him. Stop coming around and confusing him."

"Rogue isn't stupid," Sting said. "If I'm really so horrible, he would have told me to beat it already. He _wants_ me to keep coming. He _said_ so. That's not something you tell a person when your moving on. But maybe I am confusing him. You're right-I did do something awful, but I told him I was sorry and he knows I meant it. I can understand him being confused about how I could have been that stupid. I can also see you being my substitute while he works out that confusion."

That time the reminder that there was still cleaning to do wasn't enough to stop Natsu. It only took one punch to break the shield into pieces that scattered across the room. The next punch Sting blocked, but the third caught him on the chin. Dazed as Sting was, the fourth would have connected as well had Gray not intervened then.

"How about this," Gray suggested, "Sting, you go over there and start sweeping up the smaller pieces. Natsu, you help me carry the larger chunks. Nobody has to get too close to anyone they don't like, _nobody will talk_ , and I can make my damn train. If _not_ , while I'm stuck in town overnight I'll have plenty of time to go and let Rogue know that you're _both_ making asses of yourselves."

Grumbling, Sting and Natsu nodded and went to work with their assigned tasks.

-o-

Sting had been roped into helping Gray pack his things in a rush, so Natsu took the chance to run home and make sure that Rogue wouldn't get any alone time with certain awful blonds. As an extra safety measure, he also searched for and made use of the lock Rogue had installed.

The stuffed animals, he couldn't help but notice, had migrated from the table to Rogue's mattress. Not wanting to be locked out again when danger could approach at any minute, Natsu didn't comment.

What he did comment on was hardly any better. "I thought you forgot how to work a stove."

"Sting would go hungry if I didn't cook," Rogue told him. "After being the one to handle meals for years, it's hard to forget in just a few months." He gestured to a bowl of a thick, mushroomy soup adjacent him at the table. "Hungry?"

Natsu nodded and took a seat across from Rogue. It smelled like a pregnant person's 'improved' recipe, but if it hadn't made Rogue sick then it was probably safe. Of course, Rogue's morning sickness had never been severe, and he hadn't shown any indication of nausea the past few months. Still, Rogue didn't seem to find the meal bad.

A sample spoonful proved the soup to actually be quite good. It had a few spices that Mira wouldn't have thought of-and thus Natsu wouldn't have been told to use, and felt heavy enough that he could understand the absence of any other dishes. Creamy broth, mushrooms, sautéed vegetables, and rice all blended perfectly in one dish.

"You… cook better than I do," Natsu mumbled.

"The effort is enough that I prefer your results," Rogue assured him. "At the risk of sounding hypocritical, why was the door locked?"

"Happy caught me in an embarrassing moment earlier," Natsu replied.

While Rogue tried to hide his blush behind his hair, Happy cried, "What? But I didn't see anything weird. Besides, I came home hours ago. You were taking too long cleaning."

"Fro thought so…"

"So what was the real reason?" Rogue asked, face still hidden.

"Um…" Natsu swallowed another mouthful while he considered hiding the truth. "Sting."

"Oh." Rogue's eyes lit up. "That's right. There was a book he meant to give me. Did you see him?"

"Yeah…" Natsu scowled. "Hey… Rogue? You know how you get weird sometimes and worry that you like me because of Sting?"

Rogue didn't know what to say to that, so he settled for nodding.

"Is that… do you have a better idea yet? Last time you brought it up, you just said that you were noticing things similar about us. You can't really think I'm like that jerk, can you?"

Rogue nodded again. "Although you're not as much of a jerk."

Natsu's shoulders slumped in relief.

"So he's still somewhat of a jerk," Happy snickered.

"Actually…" Rogue glanced up at the ceiling as he thought about it, "As far as _I'm_ concerned, you're probably better. Between the two of you, you pay more attention to what I want or how I feel. I don't think Sting ever thought for a moment that I might not like cooking."

"So tell him to give up," Natsu said. "This is driving me insane."

"I-It's not like he's terrible at that! You're just _more_ sensitive," Rogue insisted-despite the fact that being less sensitive than Natsu was pretty terrible in most situations. "Besides, I can't make decisions based solely on myself anymore. I have to think about how my choices affect Alex too."

"I don't mind not being the bio-something or rather father," Natsu reminded him. "We started off because I offered to help with the baby. And neither of us were raised by our original parents, so you can't tell me it matters."

"No… but…" Rogue grasped for the words for a moment before settling on pointing towards the newest book collection in Natsu's home. "Those are all on childrearing. Sting read all of them himself before giving them to me. Between the two of you… sometimes I don't think you realize what you're offering to do when you say you want to be Alex's father. Even if Sting has no more experience with it, I don't ever doubt that he's doing what he can to be a good father."

"I-I can read too!" Natsu insisted. "Just watch. I'll read through all of it! If your maternal instincts want a good dad, then I'll be the best!"

-o-

It had taken over half an hour to go to Gray's, help pack his clothes, then get to Natsu's. Why Gray had even bothered to pack clothes when he'd been naked the whole time they worked was beyond Sting, but apparently even nudists cared about having a spare set of pants.

Natsu would no doubt be home, but as long as Rogue was there then Sting was sure he could at least hold a conversation in the doorway. The light from the window looked dim, but not out. He considered going back, but waiting another half hour in dark just so he could ride a late night train wasn't worth it unless he got a few moments with Rogue.

When he knocked he wasn't surprised to see that Natsu was the one to open the door. He made a point to speak loudly enough to be heard by anyone else in the room as he said, "I wanted to see Rogue for a minute."

"He's pretending to be asleep," Natsu told him. His voice sounded a little off. Now that Sting was looking, he could see that the roset's cheek was swollen.

"Well… rats." If Rogue was in a bad mood, then neither of them would be talking to him. Sting considered seeing if Natsu was bluffing, but decided that Rogue would have already protested Natsu's claim if he were willing to talk."Here, give him this when he overacts waking up," Sting said, handing Natsu the book he'd forgotten earlier. "But hey… I know _I_ didn't hit _you_. What happened?"

Natsu flipped the book open to the first page and wondered if Rogue would only get madder if he ignored the question and slammed the door on Sting's face. Probably. "Don't use the word maternal," he said. "Good night."


	17. Chapter 17

The best time to sneak away had been when Natsu and Happy were both focused on Asuka. Rogue had covered Frosch's mouth with his hand and tiptoed out of the guild. Not that he didn't enjoy the little girl's company, or that it wasn't adorable to see Natsu try and keep her pleased. What he didn't enjoy was Natsu's insistence that keeping a young girl amused for the day while her parents took advantage of the free babysitting couldn't be too different from caring for a baby.

"Are we going home?" Frosch asked.

Rogue thought about it for a minute. Natsu couldn't up and leave while a child was in his care-he and Asuka's parents and been very stern about that after the first time. He might bring Asuka with him in search of Rogue, but if she didn't want to walk across town then he'd stay at the guild. That would make for a good few hour reprieve, but if she wanted to go on an adventure with her babysitter then not only would home not be a safe haven from Natsu's overenthusiastic babysitting. It would also mean he had to take over Natsu's job while Natsu skimmed all of Sting's books and asked Rogue to clarify on what they said.

Was it unfair to avoid Natsu for doing what Rogue had wanted? Not at all. Rogue certainly liked people who were on the energetic side, but the energy Natsu poured into learning about infants—and the lack of results he had to show for it—was driving Rogue up the wall.

"Maybe… Sting's house," Rogue decided. He was allowed to visit Sting, wasn't he? He _hadn't_ , sure, but there were no rules against it. Natsu broke into Lucy's house all the time, and Sting came over to visit once or twice or seven times a week anyway, so it wasn't like he wouldn't see the one person Natsu so despised otherwise.

"Fro gets to play with Lector?"

"Yeah." Rogue held Frosch up. "Any chance you could fly me? I know you can't carry two people, but I'm only two and three quarters right now."

"Fro will do her best!"

"Thank you." Motion sickness was bad enough when it wasn't awkward to try and curl up in a fetal position. And he didn't want to imagine what it would be like if Alex had a burst of activity while all he could think of was how badly he wished his stomach would stay still.

Releasing Frosch up above him, the frog-cat did a loop in the air and came back down, grabbing Rogue and lifting her up with him this time.

"We're going home!" she cheered.

Rogue didn't bother to correct her. It had been their home for a long time, after all.

-o-

She could carry him most of the way, but he did weigh more than he had last summer. When Frosch mentioned that her wings were getting tired, Rogue assured her that he could walk the rest of the way. They touched down a quarter mile from their old town.

"Fro just wants to sleep now…"

"You do that," Rogue told her, allowing Frosch to lie in his arms as he set off through painfully familiar grassland.

With the exception that there was snow now, the town didn't look any different than it had that summer. Of course it snowed every February, but Rogue's life hadn't flipped upside-down last winter. It had flipped upside-down last summer.

The last time he was there it was Natsu everyone had looked at. No one had thought it was odd when he'd been gone for a week. This time not only was there not a Fairy to stare at, there was a prominent baby bump to draw the eyes of everyone he passed by.

It wasn't like it had only been him and that Jellal person. There had been plenty of people in the arena when things went south and Rogue had ended up with the last condition he'd ever expected to have. If a few of the other unfortunate souls who learned about their bundles of joy with only a few months to go had decided to be more public about their pregnancies than Rogue had been, then that was their choice. He could still hate them for giving everyone he passed by all the pieces they needed to puzzle out what had happened to him. More than once he had to send a silencing glare at someone who dared laugh.

During the middle of the day Sting would most likely be in the Sabertooth guildhall. Doubly so if Rogue hadn't been back at their house insisting that he wasn't interested in hanging out at the guild and showing off. It might be much easier on his pride to go wait for Sting at home, but…

Steeling himself, Rogue turned onto the guild's street. He had to steel himself again to walk the final block, and once more to actually open the door to the guildhall.

_Ah_. Now _there_ was the sudden hush he'd been expecting when he first came to Fairy Tail. Rogue wondered if it would be too absurd for him to shut the door and leave, but clearly _everyone_ had seen him already, so he had nothing to lose from staying.

"Is Sting here?" he asked.

Silence.

"Alright." He started to shut the door.

"Wait," Rufus called out. "I don't remember that. Rogue… when did you put on so much weight?"

"When he stopped working," Orga laughed.

"No you idiot, look! He's pregnant."

Rogue didn't know who had shouted that out, but he wasn't going to thank them for breaking that awful silence. Not when he got the whole guild laughing.

"Pregnant?"

"Rogue?"

"That poor kid. I can only imagine what it would be like to have _Rogue_ for a mom."

"No wonder he hasn't shown his face."

"I'm amazed he even had the guts to come."

"Sting should have kept him locked up."

"Ha! Rogue! A _mom_!"

"Oy! Sting? You aren't the dad, are you? I knew you two had one of those special connections, but you don't think this is taking it too far?"

"You really should have stayed home. When the guild master sees that, you're going to be booted from the guild."

"Rogue already left the guild," Sting declared, _finally_ drawing attention to himself. Like he was supposed to. That was the unspoken deal. He was supposed to get all the notice and not turn attention back to Rogue by asking, "Did something happen?"

"I… mm…" Rogue looked away, knowing that everyone in the guild was keenly aware of how his hair was used to hide his embarrassment.

_No. This time it was shame._

Why did they all need to stare at him? He knew it would be noticed, but this was too much. At least his baggy clothes hid the Fairy Tail guild mark on his arm.

"Lector, come over here. Let's go," Sting said, weaving through the crowd to Rogue. "You didn't need to come when everyone was going to stare."

"Although we appreciated the free freak show," someone added. Rogue was still averting his gaze, but from the sounds of flesh on flesh, breaking woods, and shouts of surprise, he guessed that Sting had struck the speaker.

Then Sting was in front of him, leaning over to whisper into his ear, "Come on. Let's get you away from them."

Rogue nodded and followed Sting and Lector away from the guild.

They were silent walking down the streets. Rogue kept his head hung low. He'd thought he had nothing to lose going into the guild, but he'd forgotten that he still had a self-image for his former guild mates to shatter. He couldn't bring himself to notice the stares of civilians now. At least Frosch had slept through that terrible moment.

"Well…" Sting said after the silence had gone one long enough, "One of them was right. You should have stayed home. Or at least gone back to our… my place. Ha… It's just been my place for a while, but I'm really not used to calling it that."

"He tells people that 'our' means me and him," Lector added.

"Yeah," Sting laughed. "But I never took your key from you, did I?"

"I threw it out," Rogue confessed. "The same night you got rid of me. I tossed it out the window while I was on the train to Magnolia."

"Oh… is that so? Well… sorry. For that, and for the guild." He stopped, turning and initiating physical contact by placing a hand beneath Rogue's chin. "Hey, look up. So they were a bunch of asses. You're a Fairy right now. You don't have to deal with them unless you go out of your way. Just forget about them."

Sting was holding his chin in place, but Rogue could still move his eyes elsewhere.

"Nevermind. You can be stubborn about the weirdest things. If you came all the way here, is this good or bad news? How's Alex? Is-" Sting caught himself before he could accidentally give away the gender. "Are they moving?"

"Not much." Rogue held his head up when Sting let go of it. "Alex squirms a little, from time to time, but I haven't felt much movement today." Rogue ran his hand over his stomach. "I could try and get them moving."

"There's a way to do that?"

"Sort of. Alex always seems a lot more active after I-"

"There!"

Both dragon slayers looked back to see a group of guild members, maybe twenty, fanning out in the street. Rogue didn't recognize any of them. New recruits since he left?

"Hey, hey, hey!" The one in the middle of the group said, pointing to Sting. "You think you can go around beating up members of my team just because you're one of the guild master's favorites? We'll show him you aren't worth your top spot."

Sting scoffed. "You need this many people on jobs with you to pull them off?"

To his still capable of fighting eyes, none of them looked tough, but a quick glance Rogue's way showed that his ex was sizing them up differently. Beating up twenty people wasn't difficult, but keeping all of them away from Rogue and the baby might be harder. He grabbed Rogue's hand and took in a deep breath.

"You think I couldn't take you one on-"

Twisting so that his laser struck all their feet, Sting used the moment he already had from the attack to spin around completely and take off running, dragging Rogue with him. Rogue dropped Frosch in surprise, but Lector caught her as he flew after them.

"Give me the frog," Sting told Lector. "You fly Rogue out of here. I'll follow."

Frosch, who was now groggily trying to figure out what was going on, squealed as she was tossed through the air. Rogue's hand was let go of to catch his friend, but no sooner had one hand released his than had two more gotten under his arms and lifted him from the ground.

"I'll take him into the woods," Lector let Sting know before speeding away.

"Right behind you!" Sting called after them as he turned a completely different direction.

The idiot newbies chose to follow the one that it didn't take wings to reach, and found that just around the corner Sting had stopped completely, waiting for them.

"Now, let's demonstrate why _I'm_ at the top."

-o-

It didn't take long for Rogue to figure out that Sting had stayed to fight. He could only guess that it had taken less time for Sting to win the fight, given how soon after he and Lector landed that Sting caught up to them with Frosch in hand.

"Sorry," Sting said as he passed the last tree between him and Rogue. "It's been a long time… since anyone was dumb enough… to pull that with either of us."

Rogue nodded. "You ran here?"

"Yeah. Give me… a minute… I just need to… catch my breath." Sting took a deep breath, straightening his posture a bit. "Are you… you're not hurt?"

"No?"

"Alex?"

"Pretty excited," Rogue reported. "I think they liked me running. I don't do a lot of that anymore."

"No… I wouldn't think so. You're getting big." He hadn't meant that as an insult, and was glad to see that Rogue didn't react to it as such. "Is it awkward to walk, or is Alex not big enough for that yet?"

"I think I've been waddling for a while," Rogue admitted, "But I wouldn't mind walking."

"Alright, let's see if we can't sneak you back to our… to my house," Sting decided. He waved to the exceed, letting them know they could go back on their own if they wanted to get out of the snow faster. The two, tired from flying a heavy pregnant boy, were happy for the excuse not to stay out in the cold. As they flew off Sting and Rogue started walking the same direction.

They'd only made it ten feet when Rogue tripped over a root.

"Whoa!" Sting snapped forward and grabbed him with one hand, securing himself to a tree with the other so Rogue wouldn't pull them both down. "You okay?" he asked as he pulled Rogue upright.

"Y-yeah. Thanks."

Sting nodded. "Your center of balance is off thanks to the kid, so be careful, okay? Since you're putting so much effort into getting along with that idiot, I won't always be there to catch you…" He looked away, hiding a blush. He didn't usually say such mushy things, but while he was at it he couldn't help but add, "But I will do my best to keep you safe."

Rogue blushed too. "Th-that's-"

"So what did you come for again?" Sting asked, not even trying to hide that he was changing the subject.

Rogue _did_ hide his disappointment at that. "Nothing," he said. "I wanted to get away from Natsu, and I thought I might see you."

"Is that so?" Sting tried to keep his voice neutral, but he didn't need to look at Rogue to know he'd failed. Still, coming to see him when getting away from Natsu. That couldn't be a bad sign. "What was Natsu doing?"

"Just… trying too hard. He's reading up on parenting. I do appreciate the effort, but it gets tiring when he keeps it up too long. I can't convince him to take it easy, because he's determined to 'beat' you as a boyfriend," Rogue explained, making sure to get the message across that he wasn't in the mood for Sting trying anything either.

"Well, you can have a low key day here," Sting offered. "I guess you like people cooking for you, but I'm no good at that. I can at least make instant hot chocolate. When we get back I can boil water and get a fire going and you can relax all you want."

Rogue nodded. That sounded nice. His coat and baby fat kept him warm, but sitting in front of a fire during the winter, mug of hot chocolate in hand, maybe a blanket draped around his shoulder… that sounded nice. Why just one shoulder? He might have imagined the other end of the blanket covering Sting. That was no good. He couldn't fantasize about snuggling with his ex while still with Natsu.

Though for as often as he saw Sting, it almost felt like he was just as close to both of them by that point.

"Are you cold?" Rogue asked.

Sting shrugged. Maybe he was a little chilly. He had the sense not to show his stomach off in the middle of winter, but his clothes still weren't as thick as Rogue's.

"I can lend you my scarf."

"I'm fine," Sting insisted.

"Hold still," Rogue ordered. Sting obliged, not bothering to protest when Rogue removed his scarf and lifted it over Sting's head. "Do you need me to tie it for you?"

"You don't need to do this at all," Sting grumbled. Sure, Rogue's scarf was warm, and it was nice to have something that smelled like Rogue so close. His scent had been wearing off of the house and it was getting even more lonely and sometime he wanted to just go and—Rogue absolutely should not have been giving away his own protection from the cold. "It's fine."

Rogue ignored Sting, leaning forward a bit to loop the scarf around his neck once more. "Here. This way it can cover the lower half of your face too."

Speaking of faces, Rogue suddenly noticed how close his was to Sting's. The blond's mouth was now covered, but a blush that was too strong to just be from the cold crept over the top of the scarf. Rogue wondered if the heat in his cheeks could be passed off as cold, or if Sting could see it too.

"Uh…" Sting took a page from Rogue's book and looked away without turning his head.

So he didn't see it.

He just felt Rogue pull the scarf back down from his mouth.

But he did look back when he felt lips against his own.

Then he closed his eyes, taking in Rogue's scent and kissing back. Maybe the fireplace would have been a more comfortable place for it, but if this was where Rogue wanted to do something, then after half a year of wondering if they'd ever be so close again Sting wasn't going to complain. He ran a hand through Rogue's hair and held the other on the boy's waist, holding him firm while Rogue got his own grip on Sting.

"I missed you," Sting murmured when Rogue broke away for a second to take a quick breath of air.

"Later," Rogue replied, kissing again.

Sure. Why not? If Rogue had come all the way to see him, then they'd have plenty of time to talk, right? Why not enjoy a moment that, by all means, he shouldn't have had another chance to have? Sting was content just then to indulge Rogue, be it hormones or fond memories and feelings that had caused the sudden affection.

He wasn't tracking how long it lasted, but it didn't matter. Even if they had gone on for days, Rogue would have pulled away too soon.

"I'm a horrible person," Rogue declared.

"I promise you can still come inside. I've already kicked you out once for that, so we can call it even," Sting joked.

Rogue laughed despite himself. "Yeah. Fireplace? That sounds nice. Let's go. We can get Lector and Frosch to bed. They only saw us acting like friends. If we keep anything up while we're warmer, Frosch won't tell anyone."

It wasn't that Sting wanted to encourage Rogue to be exactly what he'd rejected Rogue for not actually being. It was just that Sting couldn't turn down the idea after getting to taste his beloved again.

-o-

After a round of hot chocolate, his beloved tasted surprisingly like hot chocolate. Sting mentioned that, and Rogue asked if there had been any alcohol in his drink.

"We just haven't had a moment like this in a long time. Something where we're not just friends," Sting said.

"Yeah…"

"I know I shouldn't ask this while you're still with Natsu, but… I had money set aside for a trip. I was going to take you to Joya…"

"I heard."

"You did? Geeze. I shouldn't have trusted that girl."

"I heard from you," Rogue clarified. "But I would assume anything Mira hears will be common knowledge by the end of the day."

"A-ah." Sting cleared his throat. "Well, I set aside some money for a trip to Joya. As an apology for what happened. A much better one then just getting on my knees. If… Natsu doesn't take it the wrong way…"

Sting didn't really care what Natsu thought of it. Rogue knew that. This was Sting trying to be sensitive to what Rogue wanted, just like him making instant hot chocolate rather than setting out milk and cocoa and telling Rogue to do it was him acknowledging that his ex didn't like standing over a stove.

So now Natsu was going over the top trying to be a good dad, and Sting was calming down almost to the point that Rogue thought he might have a fever trying to be a nice boyfriend. As for Rogue, he'd be lying if he said spending time with Sting was a part of it, but he could honestly tell Natsu that he'd wanted for a long time to go to Joya for the sake of seeing Joya.

"I'll ask. We might have to bring someone along to prove we're not doing anything," Rogue said. Just to counter himself, he stretched up and kissed Sting again. He'd just have to be better about humoring Natsu's enthusiasm for parenting in exchange. Really sit down and talk him through the points he didn't get.

"Not anything?" Sting teased.

"Today is an exception."

"Alright. I know a hotel that doesn't let you reserve more than a few weeks out. I can get you there by the end of the month."

"Sounds great."


	18. Chapter 18

"It's not…" Natsu took a deep breath to keep himself from punching the thing closest to him, a precaution he wouldn't have bothered with if that thing weren't Rogue. "It's not that I don't mind you going anywhere with a _friend_ ," which was a lie, "But you do know that we've had hotel reservations for the same week since early last fall."

From the look on Rogue's face, he'd completely forgotten.

"You can give the room to me," Sting suggested.

Rogue smacked his arm.

Rubbing his injury, Sting said, "Well, the place is nice because you don't need to wait half a year to get into it. I can arrange for next week instead."

"You do that," Natsu told him in a voice that clearly meant he didn't want Sting to book a hotel room at all.

Sting nodded, then smiled at Rogue, saying, "I'd be lying if I said I didn't want you two fighting, but I can honestly say I don't want to cause you trouble. I'll leave you be until he's calmed down."

Although hearing Sting put it that way seemed to only make Natsu madder. Rogue sighed and waved as Sting ran out the door.

"I'm not…" Rogue started, still facing the door even after it was shut. "I… didn't mean to upset you… I…"

"Well, you picked one hell of a way to accidentally upset me," Natsu growled. "A vacation with Sting? If you want to go back to him so badly, stop pretending and _go_!"

"That's not it!" Rogue insisted, turning to meet Natsu's glare. "I like you! I do!"

"Then why the hell are you sneaking away from me to spend the _night_ with _him_?" Natsu demanded.

"I…" Rogue looked away. "I… I don't… know." He sighed. "I don't know. You know me well enough to know that relationships aren't something my mind is wired for. I don't get the point of all that mushy hand holding and eating out that you and Sting always hype up. I don't get why I can't just look at the two of you and know for sure what I think. I meant what I said before. Between you and Sting, you're the one who I feel more comfortable with without considering the baby, but even then I'm taking past incidents and weighing them like they're numeric values. It's not… I'm not someone who can just 'follow their heart', I don't even get how a person would do that." He met Natsu's gaze again. "So I'm trying to use my head to sort this out. I don't want to stay with you because I've mixed gratitude for you helping me with real feelings. I don't want to leave you and learn I did care about you more than Sting. I know this sounds horrible—I _know_ , but I want to be able to really compare the two of you. Please."

This time it was Natsu who looked away, unable to come up with any other way of hiding his expression from Rogue. "So you can't say you love me?"

"I couldn't," Rogue confirmed. "I'm certain I like you, and that I could live with you for much longer, but… it's not a word I could use so easily."

It should have come easily to him. Natsu didn't get it. He'd tried really hard. He'd done everything he could to please Rogue for months. He'd poured all his energy into being a good boyfriend, and all his brainpower into learning to be a good father. How did Sting get Rogue's attention so easily?

"Natsu?"

"I love you…"

Rogue nodded, not sure if Natsu meant it sincerely, or if he placed such a strong word on a weaker feeling that he'd mistake for love. "I don't love Sting, either," was the only verbal response he could come up with.

"Say you love me."

"It wouldn't be sincere if-"

"Say it!" Natsu cried. "Please!"

Rogue bit his lip. "I…" He didn't want to make Natsu cry. "I love you," he said.

"Really?"

"Yes."

It _was_ insincere. After the speech he'd given, neither doubted it was, if nothing else, flawed. But it calmed Natsu, if only a little.

"And you're not going to run away with Sting on this trip?"

"The trip is already running away with Sting on its own," Rogue said, "But I promise I'll come back."

Natsu nodded, still unable to look at Rogue.

Taking a deep breath and bracing himself for a few months that would be too touchy feely, Rogue stepped forward and grabbed Natsu, pulling him into a hug. "I'm sorry, Natsu. You really do mean a lot to me. Really. I'm sorry I'm putting you through this."

"It's fine," Natsu muttered. "You can hold me for a minute but… I need to make dinner soon. What… what do you want?"

"I can cook," Rogue offered. "I've been a rotten boyfriend. You're not allowed to treat me, alright?"

"But…" But if he couldn't cook for Rogue, then what was he offering that Rogue couldn't go back to Sting for?

"Get out," Rogue told him.

"G-get-?"

"Get out," he repeated, resting his forehead against Natsu's and dropping to a whisper. "If I'm going to make this up to you it needs to be a surprise. I can't surprise you if you watch me set it up."

It took a second for Natsu to figure out why that sounded so familiar, but when he did he broke into a grin. A real grin. A grin Rogue had thought he might have barred himself from seeing again.

He laughed. "Okay. But so you know, I don't want lamb."

"Noted."

Moving Rogue's arms away, Natsu kissed his boyfriend, then kissed him one more time to assure himself that he could still do that. "I might make you do something special all the way up to your trip," Natsu warned.

"You'll make me work while I'm on vacation with you?"

"You can make that week afterward."

"You're not leaving," Rogue pointed out.

"Huh? Oh! Right. The surprise. I'll be at the guild," Natsu told Rogue. "Send Frosch when you're ready."

Frosch? When had Frosch gotten there? Rogue glanced around as Natsu ran out the door and saw that Frosch had indeed been in the room the whole time. Neither he nor Happy had dared say a word while everything came dangerously close to imploding right in front of them.

"Happy, why don't you go with Natsu?" Rogue suggested. "I don't trust you to keep a secret from him."

Happy nodded and waddled over to the door, stopping before he left and looking back to Rogue.

"You don't love Natsu?"

"At this point, I like him as much as I could anyone."

-o-

"So he at least doesn't like Sting more," Gray said, rubbing Natsu's back consolingly. It wasn't a position he'd ever envisioned himself in, but the roset had come in that afternoon sulking to an almost empty guild. When Natsu had sunk down on the bar counter, burying his head in his arms, Gray had decided he needed to move in. Mira had taken a day off to go off with Lisanna and Elfman on a skiing trip, and Erza had taken Lucy on a girls only mission so she wouldn't be evicted. Someone had to talk to the guy.

He hadn't been surprised to hear it was about Sting again, but it had been a surprise when he heard Rogue's part in it. A vacation with Sting? That was definitely pushing it. Pushing it over a cliff and into a pit of hellish fire, considering Rogue had already been accused of cheating _by_ Sting.

"But you still get your week with him. Undo whatever damage Sting's week did-or set up some preventative measures. If Rogue wants to know you better before using the L word, spend the week getting to know one another better. And challenge Sting to blow him away with some great recipe. Reminding him that the competition can burn food by mixing cold ingredients can't hurt."

Natsu nodded. "So if I stop catering and just… act like I do around everyone else at the guild-"

"Except me."

"-And the other idiots who take jobs here, then that would help?"

"…"

"Gray?"

"H-hey… I didn't have to give you this advice, you know."

"Well I can't treat him like Gajeel either, can I?"

Gray sighed. "Just pretend he's Lucy."

"I don't want to sleep with Lucy."

This time it was Happy who patted Gray's back consolingly before looking up at Natsu and saying, "That was too much information."

"How so?" Natsu asked, trying to figure out what he'd done wrong. "I don't think of Lucy that way."

"I meant treat him like a friend!" Gray cried. "Be casual around him! If he doesn't think you're putting effort into being what he wants, then he can make a better judgment in this stupid mess you've gotten yourself mixed up in."

"Gotten myself mixed up in? I had no part in it. It's all Sting's fault! He's the one who thought he could waltz in and take back the guy he kicked out in the rain."

"And you're the one who asked out a pregnant boy who wasn't over an ex that he broke up with over a stupid confusion."

"Well why wouldn't I have? He's great! And he needed _someone_ there for him!" Natsu screamed.

"Fro thinks so too."

Natsu blinked and turned around. Frosch, the only person who hadn't fled upstairs when his temper flared, had seated herself on the table behind him. "How long have you been there." What was she, some sort of ninja?

"Fro came in when Natsu said he wants to sleep with Rogue," Frosch confessed. "Rogue wanted Fro to come say dinner is ready, but Fro wanted to know what Natsu had to say first."

"O-oh…"

"So… Natsu loves Rogue?"

"Yeah…"

Fro nodded. "Rogue loves Natsu too, Fro's sure. But because Rogue didn't stop loving Sting, he's confused now."

"Hm." Natsu grunted.

"So Natsu should go home. Rogue wanted Fro and Happy to stay with Lucy for the night."

"Lucy's gone," Happy let Frosch know.

Frosch looked distressed. Rogue wanted to make a romantic evening for him and Natsu. She couldn't interrupt a romantic evening, and she couldn't let Happy interrupt it either.

"She keeps the window over her bed unlocked. Let yourselves in," Natsu told them. The window saw more use than her door anyway. "I'll come get you guys when Rogue and I are done."

-o-

Rogue had taken one extra step to imitate Natsu's apology meal and left a window open to waft the scent out. Natsu smelled pork as he approached his house, and was drooling by the time he made it inside.

He didn't see pork. Instead, the table held two bowls of soup. All the normal lights in the house had been turned off, and candles at the table and atop a few other furnishings lit the room. Rogue sat at the far end, waiting for Natsu to come in.

"Our the candles part of the meal?"

"You shouldn't eat wax," Rogue replied.

Laughing, Natsu sat down at grabbed a spoon, testing the soup. Chicken of some sort, although he could still smell pork. It was driving him nuts. Would it be rude if he didn't show interest in the meal Rogue had made? Probably. It _was_ something he might do to Lucy, but Natsu couldn't bring himself to take Gray's advice. Rogue wasn't half as tolerant as Lucy.

So he ate the soup. It became more bearable as he tuned out the scent of pork and noticed all the spices mixed into the chicken broth. It wasn't _bad_ , it was just light.

Rogue had finished off his bowl before Natsu—somehow—and took the dish before Natsu could insist that he was capable of cleaning. He came back with two more plates. This time is was pork. Roasted in a vinegar based sauce.

"Usually the flavor is stronger, but I didn't have enough time to let the meat soak in the sauce before it had to cook," Rogue apologized.

"I woubn' haf known it coub be bettew if you hadn' said so," Natsu told him mid mouthful.

"Thanks."

Natsu grinned and went back to stuffing his face, this time finishing before Rogue.

"Ah… man, that was good." Natsu laughed. "You set out that soup first just to torture me, didn't you. I thought I'd go crazy smelling that pork."

"The idea was that you'd like the soup too." Rogue tried to keep his voice dry, but the corners of his lips twitched up against his will. "Give me a second." He popped the last bite into his mouth and got up to take the plates again, coming back with a third dish.

Natsu grinned. Ice cream was far from his favorite treat, especially in winter, but this hadn't just been scooped out of a bin. Rogue had garnished it with a mint leaf and thin chopped almonds.

"What flavor is that?" Natsu asked as he held a spoon over the bowl, ready to strike.

"Blueberry. It's not a flavor I've ever mixed to make ice cream before, but I think it came out alright."

The spoon froze mid swing. "Mixed?"

"I can teach you how to do it."

"Why… If you hate cooking then why do you know how to make ice cream."

"Sting and I had a bet back when we were twelve or so. He said you couldn't get ice cream in _every_ flavor, and if I could prove him wrong he'd do our next job in a skirt, but if I couldn't find the flavor he picked—"

"You'd wear a skirt instead."

"We were little. It was the worst punishment we could think of. He wanted thyme flavored ice cream. I couldn't find any, and even now cooking beats cross dressing so learning to make it myself was the logical solution."

"So no maternity dresses when you outgrow the clothes you have now."

"I borrowed this from Elfman. If I outgrow them then I doubt a maternity dress would do any better a job of keeping me covered."

Yeah. Those clothes looked big enough to be Elfman's. One of Rogue's shoulders almost poked out of the neck hole. Natsu eyed it a moment. What was it he'd said to freak Gray out? He didn't want to sleep with Lucy? Right. The issue there was unrelated to Lucy. Gray had been bothered by the implication that he wanted to sleep with Rogue. Again. And he did. Maybe the soup wasn't torture, but surely Rogue knew what it looked like to expose that much skin.

Before digging into the ice cream, Natsu opened his mouth and inhaled, drawing in the embers of the candles on the table. Rogue didn't comment as the room became slightly darker, waiting for Natsu to take a bite before eating his own dish.

Knowing that more care had gone into the dessert that simply dishing it up, Natsu took his time eating it, and since he doubted Rogue had planned a course after that, took both bowls to the sink before Rogue had the chance. He came back to the table afterward, sitting down on Rogue's side and laying an arm on his shoulder.

"That was great."

"Thanks."

"Yeah. Thank you too," Natsu murmured, leaning over and kissing Rogue. He could do that as many damn times as he pleased. Rogue was his boyfriend. Sting's scent had no business being on those lip, and Natsu licked the offending scent off before kissing Rogue again to get the taste it left out of his mouth completely.

"You're not mad at me?"

"Not you," Natsu assured Rogue. Reaching out, he wrapped his other arm around Rogue's stomach and said, "Even if you were the one who really got me riled up, you're too cute to stay mad at."

" _Cute_?"

"Sure. Not girly, but there's a lot about you that 'attractive' doesn't cover. Even if attractive describes you pretty well."

"A beer gut is attractive?"

"It's a baby bump," Natsu reminded Rogue. "And yeah, you look good with it."

"Do I?"

"You do."

Rogue closed his eyes and debated elbowing Natsu in the gut as his boyfriend licked his neck. He knew where this was going, and he didn't want anything going anywhere until he knew who he was going with. But would a physical attack be too strong of a no? He didn't want to send any message besides 'nothing in bed'.

"That was a great meal. Let's make the rest of the night even better. Look how pretty it is. It would be a shame to waste it."

Rogue glanced at the window, which was almost too dark to see out of. Snowflakes collected in the corners of the glass and reflected the flickering candle light. That did set about as good a mood as red sheets and rose petals, but…

"I don't know…"

"Why not? The books said this can't harm the baby, so this just has to do with me. Was I bad last time?"

"No…"

Natsu's tongue ran the length of Rogue's shoulder, trailing up to his ear and making the boy shiver. "So?"

Rogue shut his eyes. "Your bed this time."


	19. Chapter 19

It was likely the longest wait anyone had ever gone through to celebrate getting together as a couple, but Rogue couldn't deny that the wait was worth it. He felt like he was getting the royal treatment just sitting in the waiting room while Natsu checked into their hotel. Marble floors. Ornate gardens. An indoor waterfall—not to be confused with the waterfall themed slide in the hotel's pool park—split above the sofa Rogue rested on and fell on either side of him.

Frosch and Happy raced in and out of the bamboo garden, occasionally stopping by to make sure Rogue was alright. Not that he'd felt 'wrong' for a while. He'd just gotten a little dizzy on the train. Normal, but Natsu had become anxious recently about anything Rogue did.

If they could just leave him alone… he wanted to shut his eyes for a bit…

"You look tired."

Rogue blinked and looked up. When had Natsu come back over? How long had Frosch been flopped over on his lap? Did he doze off? "Maybe a bit. I can last until night."

"We're on vacation to relax, not force ourselves to stay awake."

"We're on vacation to celebrate getting together, not for me to sleep while you're left alone." Rogue moved Frosch aside and stood up, taking a moment to steady himself. "I might not be up for anything big, but I don't need to sleep."

"Are you sure?" Natsu asked. He held his hands out, uncertain if he'd need to hold Rogue steady when his boyfriend started walking. Due in only a few months, Rogue's stomach clearly stuck out, and it made Natsu uneasy to see how off balance that made Rogue.

Rogue nodded. "It's not the right time of year to go to relax on the beach, but we can find something to do in our room."

"It would have been the right time if I'd gotten us a room for when we first go together…" Natsu grumbled.

"Then we wouldn't have as much to do in our room," Rogue told him.

Frosch looked too Happy for an explanation. The blue exceed just shook his head. Not sure, and not sure if he wanted to be sure. Really, he was only certain that he didn't want to explain it to the frog-cat.

The reminder from Rogue appeased Natsu, and he wrapped an arm around Rogue's waist and lead him down the hall to their room. He'd been particular about getting one that wouldn't force them to take an elevator. At the time the rooms were booked the idea had been more to avoid the stairs, but even if Rogue hated being coddled Natsu wouldn't want his boyfriend having to climb up and down stairs all the time. Of course, when he asked Rogue if it was tiring for him to go upstairs to hide in the guild, Rogue had kicked him so hard that no matter which gender he slept with, Natsu didn't think he'd ever have any biological children of his own.

The room was as gorgeous as the lobby. A queen size bed with drapes. A polished, granite kitchenette. A large bathroom with a heart-shaped tub, complete with jets. Hard wood floors. A plush rug. Natsu would like to see Sting's last minute spot beat _that_.

Although if it was better, Rogue would be the one seeing it. And it was his opinion that counted.

"Is something wrong?" Rogue asked when Natsu slumped over in despair.

"No…"

"Oh… I'll unpack then."

Rogue dumped his clothes out of his suitcase and packed them into one of the wardrobes that came with the room. Elfman's shirts took up a lot more space than he was used to accounting for when packing, but the suitcase he'd used to take all his valued possessions from Sting's place had enough space leftover from him to pack a few things. Like Fishlogia, who Frosch and Happy both liked playing with, and who he didn't particularly mind resting on his stomach and imagining little Alex enjoying.

The last thing in his suitcase was a packet of assorted board games that Bisca had leant to Rogue. It was neither his nor Natsu's thing, but she'd thought he might like something to keep entertained in his room. Now that he had ended up restricting them to his room, he was grateful to her for having thought so. She must have known he'd be too tried to be out and about the whole time.

He pulled one out and showed it to Natsu. It was much more elaborate than simply rolling dice, and they ended up breaking for dinner before they'd finished reviewing the rules. When they came back to play they split into three sides. Happy and Natsu each played on their own while Rogue and Frosch put their heads together for such a strategy heavy game. Happy won.

Neither boy could, in good faith, coax the cats out of the room. That night they settled for curling up in bed together and partaking in G-rated snuggling until they fell asleep.

-o-

The disadvantage of going to a beach resort in winter was that a lot of the activities weren't quite options. The advantage was that there was virtually no one else to get in the way of what could be done.

Natsu and Rogue strolled down the boardwalk, each holding a cup of hot chocolate. It had snowed overnight, and their footprints were the only ones to be seen. Happy and Frosch had stayed behind in the room to study up on the other needlessly complex board games Bisca had lent out, and with no one else silly enough to come out to the water in such cold they had the whole outdoors to themselves.

Natsu still held onto Rogue's waist as they walked. A habit that Rogue would have made his displeasure known for in a painfully memorable way if he wasn't worried about spilling his drink. It wasn't like he was in constant danger of stumbling into a busy street, or even falling when alone. Natsu was just freaking out over the way he had to support himself when he stood up.

"It's fine," he decided.

"Hm?" Natsu looked to Rogue, wondering what the boy was referring to.

"You," Rogue told him. "You're warm, so for now I don't mind if you want to hold onto me."

"Ah. If it bothers you, tell me to stop."

"I've been telling you to stop coddling me for months."

"It's not coddling. It's holding."

Rogue snorted and took a sip of his hot chocolate.

"It isn't."

"Can we sit?"

"Sit?"

Rogue nodded. "Look. The sun is catching on the ocean. It looks like our spot at the lake."

"Oh." Natsu looked out at the soft pink hue of the sun reflecting off the sea water. "Yeah. Let's find a bench."

It didn't take long to spot one. Natsu brushed the snow off of it and placed his hands on the metal he uncovered, warming the seat to a reasonable temperature before gesturing for Rouge to sit down.

Once Rogue had made himself as comfortable as was possible Natsu took a seat as well, pulling up his scarf to hide any surprise his face may have betrayed when Rogue practically glued himself to his very warm boyfriend.

"This is nice," Rogue said after a moment.

"Yeah. We won't get to do this once Alex is born, will we?"

"Not as often." Rogue shut his eyes, resting a cheek on Natsu's shoulder. "We'd need to find a babysitter. I'm not sure I trust Frosch and Happy."

"Finding a babysitter every time we need to work sounds like a pain."

"We could take jobs separately. You don't have to break up your team, and I don't have to get used to a new partner."

A snide comment about Rogue wanting to work with his old partner was swallowed down, and instead Natsu said, "I wouldn't want to break up my team. Maybe you can come along with us for special occasions."

"That sounds nice…" Rogue murmured.

"Are you getting sleepy?"

"No. It's just… calm."

"That demolition derby thing Gajeel's into is supposed to be in town later this week. If you don't want calm, we can go see it."

"It doesn't interest me. And in any case, I _do_ want calm."

"Ah. I'd been hoping to go see it…" Natsu sighed. "Well, I think there's going to be an event for it in Magnolia soon, so maybe then."

"Maybe," Rogue dismissed.

Natsu bent his neck down to kiss Rogue on the forehead. "Until then, we can do what you want."

Rogue grimaced. "If you _want_ to see it…"

"Nah. I can go with Gajeel."

"I don't want to stop you…"

"It's not a problem. We can just do what you want."

Rogue sighed. "Alright. I'd like to go somewhere to eat."

"Eh? It's a little early for lunch. You should have had a larger breakfast," Natsu scolded lightly. When Rogue glared up at him he laughed and added, "Well I don't mind eating. It's just that lately you seem to be snacking a lot."

"There isn't exactly room for me to have a full meal," Rogue defended, patting his stomach.

Natsu calmed immediately as he processed what that meant. "Is it hard… carrying Alex when he's getting so big?"

"I'm used to… No, I really want to go into premature labor."

Despite trying to take his boyfriend's discomfort seriously, Natsu couldn't help but laugh so hard that he fell off the bench. Rogue waited calmly for his boyfriend to finish kicking and rolling around in the snow, silently plotting some subtle revenge.

"Oh man…" Natsu wiped a tear from his eye as he pushed himself up, still chuckling. "Okay. Let's get you something to eat. Do you want anything specific."

" _No_."

"U-uh…" Hadn't that been a bit to forceful a response. "Are you sure."

"I want you to pick."

"But you're-"

"We're not seeing the derby. You pick."

"I-"

"Or we're through."

Natsu's jaw fell slack as he looked up at Rogue, stern frown on his boyfriend's face as he looked back down. "Over a restaurant? I'm trying to go with what you want."

"And I'm trying not to be in a one sided relationship, even if it's in my favor. Where. Do. You. Want. To. Eat?"

_Be casual around him! If he doesn't think you're putting effort into being what he wants, then he can make a better judgment in this stupid mess you've gotten yourself mixed up in._

"U-uh… um… I… uh…" Natsu gulped. "M-maybe… uh… but I really don't care!"

"Really?" Rogue demanded.

"N-no. I mean, food is food so…"

Natsu looked away under Rogue's gaze. He was being honest. He might have had a preference, but not a big enough one to be particular about where he ate.

"Alright," Rogue said finally. "We can keep walking. We'll stop at the first place that's serving lunch."

-o-

By day four they had a favorite spot, a little mom and pop place on the far side of town. The middle-aged woman who ran it thought that Rogue's being pregnant was "simply precious" and liked to sneak goodies into the two's meals. Rogue's salad would come with extra berries sprinkled on top. Natsu's ham would be graciously seasoned. Refills to drinks came free no matter what the beverage—it wasn't as if either of them could or would go for expensive wine—and entry into the building included a warm, personal welcome.

"We'll have to come back out here with Alex," Natsu said over dinner. "This place is too nice to only go to for one week."

"Maybe you can honeymoon here," the owner teased as she passed by.

"H-honeymoon…" Rogue stuttered, dropping his fork. Marry Natsu? Well… he'd intended to get married eventually, and considering that he was due in a little over a month… No. He didn't need to be married before Alex was born. Marry Natsu…

And of course Natsu was taking it all without missing a beat. "Then we could actually come up here in the summer!" he laughed. He'd been doing that a lot more now. Saying whatever he thought was it came to mind was Natsu's specialty, but he'd almost completely stopped catching himself before he might say something Rogue didn't like.

Because he'd threatened to break up with him? Rogue still felt bad about that. It had been a hallow threat. Something he'd said in the spur of the moment and wouldn't have been able to follow through with. Dump someone over a restaurant choice? Fat chance. But it had gotten Natsu to stop differing to him, so it wasn't so bad.

"The derby is tonight," Natsu said abruptly. "If there's a really big crash and I can't brag to Gajeel about having seen it, I'm going to be mad."

"Go without me. Or just pretend you saw it."

Natsu's eyes lit up. "That would work. I have no idea for what to do tonight then. We still have a few of Bisca's games to try, but we can play those at home too."

"The hotel room has a movie player. We can rent a bad romance from the front desk."

"I'd rather see an action movie."

"It's harder to turn an action movie off."

"Why would we want to turn the movie off?" Natsu asked.

"Romance."

"But if we're watching a romance movie then turning it off would stop-" Natsu gasped and choked on a piece of meat as it hit him. Rogue reached out hesitantly in case Natsu needed to have his back pounded on while the boy coughed, but Natsu spat the piece back out and asked, "Wouldn't Frosch and Happy care if we…? You're really wanting to…?"

"Happy's going on a star gazing tour to brag to Lucy about. I can convince Frosch to go with him." And he knew Natsu was wanting to.

"So…"

"You can pick the movie. Do you want to ignore a chick flick, or a romantic comedy?"


	20. Chapter 20

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remember how I said before that I plan stuff out chapter by chapter, but don't always follow the plan?
> 
> The plan for this chapter was: (week 33 feb) romantic week with Sting. Sting raises the question of him and Rogue taking their relationship further, but when Rogue thinks about it Sting cuts off his answer, saying he'd rather not sleep with Rogue while Natsu's in the picture and Rogue still hasn't forgiven him enough to come back home. Rogue says he has forgiven Sting, he just happened to fall for Natsu before remembering his feelings for the blond, and now he needs to decide who matters more, and fast.
> 
> Watch this not happen at all.

Whatever he'd done with Natsu in their hotel, whatever he'd done before that at Sting's house, Rogue absolutely was _not_ going to be disloyal while in Joya. Helping that was that neither he nor Sting were up for anything other than flopping over on a bench by the pier and waiting for their motion sickness to pass when they first got off the boat.

"Romantic, huh?" Sting moaned as he fought to keep his lunch down.

"Shut up."

Sting bit his lip and obeyed while Rogue steadied his breathing. No sense in getting Rogue mad on the first day. Thank the lord for dragon slayer motion sickness rarely taking long to fade.

"Okay," Rogue said after the longest thirty seconds of Sting's life (not counting that time he found out Rogue and Natsu were a thing). "Let's stop by the hotel and drop off our things. We only have seven days to hit every tourist trap in the country."

"How about we limit things to the capitol? It's a lot fewer train rides if we stick to the city." Sting gave both cats a warning look about pointing out flight. As if either would. Rogue was heavy.

Rogue had been hoping to keep too busy to face any temptation, but he wasn't going to argue for more train rides. He bit his lip and nodded. "First up, then…"

-o-

"This is _boring_." Sting whined. "Rogue, you _can't_ tell me that _this_ is interesting to you."

"Hush. No one talks that loud in a museum," Rogue hissed. "You're making everyone stare."

Out of courtesy to the other museum goers, Sting didn't point out that there were much fewer annoyed glares going his way than there were curious stares directed at the pregnant boy's stomach. Didn't help that the boy was rubbing it self-consciously and edging towards the loud kid.

Sting leaned over and moved Rogue's hand away from his stomach. "Come on, we've got three more statues to see before we can leave this awful place."

"But—"

"Why should Sting and I have to come to such a boring place anyway. Just move along," Lector ordered. Sting swatted him as lightly as he could while still getting across that he really was annoyed with Lector. He had to look good this week if he wanted to undo… _whatever_ damage Rogue being at a beach resort with Natsu for a week had done.

"Is your stomach hurting?" Sting asked in a whisper while he pushed Rogue towards the next exhibit. "I know it's a little early for it, but I asked about taking you on a trip with your doctor and there was some risk that you could go into labor early."

"It's fine." Rogue told him. "Alex just has the hiccups."

Sting came to a halt. "Is that a _thing_?" He demanded a little too loudly.

" _Quiet._ And yes, hiccups are 'a thing'. You've had me scare them out of you before."

"Fro remembers that."

"You're so stupid!" Exclaimed Lector. "Rogue's just being sarcastic."

Sting might not have been as embarrassed by the remark if Lector hadn't drawn a few snickers from the other museum goers. "Not the hiccups. _Alex_ having hiccups. How can Alex have the hiccups?"

"I don't know. You're the one who read up on this. Alex has the hiccups and they keep fidgeting around and it's distracting," Rogue complained. "Why couldn't _you_ be the pregnant one. Then everyone would be looking at you instead…"

And Rogue might have been even tempered enough to keep from kicking Sting out too, but if he wasn't laying on guilt for that any more than Sting wasn't going to mention it. Besides, he had to fulfill his end of their deal. Sting gave Rogue a quick kiss, just on the cheek, nothing big while the cats were witnesses, and stepped back to fulfill his end. Seeing the glint in his former partner's eyes, Rogue stepped back too-in the other direction. This wasn't going to be something he wanted people associating him with, whatever it was.

While Sting put on a magic show in the middle of a history museum that was, itself, historic, Rogue took advantage of all the museum patrons staring at his boyfriend and slipped off to see the next exhibit. In truth, it wasn't _particularly_ interesting to him. It wasn't as fun as, say, being dragged around an amusement park and coaxed into playing booth games. He doubted they'd find something like that in winter, but maybe it wouldn't hurt to cut out a few more tourist hot spots from his schedule and find something more… festive, to do with Sting. Although it sounded like Sting was having plenty of fun on his own.

Rogue shook his head and focused on the display. Old relics and all sorts of other lovely little decorations that had belonged to dead people before being stolen from their graves and put in a glass case for strangers to gawk at. Not his thing, but nice to see from time to time, and it was a little interesting to learn about Joya's history. Would he be able to go out and see things like this once Alex was born? Probably not for a few years, if he didn't want a screaming baby or defiant toddler embarrassing him in public.

"You look like you're ready to pop," A woman said.

Rogue looked over at her. She could have been old enough to be on display herself. "Yeah…"

"Is that your friend creating all that ruckus? It's awfully distracting."

"I'm sorry."

"Well, you aren't the one doing wrong," the woman assured him. "It must be stressful, having a friend like that boy. A young lady like yourself shouldn't have to deal with that when they're about to be a mother."

Rogue coughed, waited a moment to see if the woman would realize she'd said something wrong, then decided to just let the young lady comment slide for the time being. "He's… spirited. I like it."

"He's a lucky man then, to find someone who would tolerate him like you do. Is he the father?"

Rogue nodded, mind suddenly elsewhere. Recently, something had been giving him the idea that he was actually quite intolerant. Now what could that be?

"I wish you the best of luck, dearie. Hopefully you have some lovely 'girl pals', as you youngsters like to call the, to help you out. A rude boy like that can't be much good with a baby and it would be such a pity if you had to take care of her on your own."

"Her?"

"Oh, it's a girl. I can tell. I had four girls myself. Husband wasn't around for any of them. Not a one! I really do wish you luck."

-o-

By the time they'd finished going through the exhibit and gotten back to their hotel room, Rogue had given up on repressing the memory of the conversation and decided to try and mitigate the damage it had done to his mental wellbeing by sharing it with Sting. Sting sat through the whole story and explanation of why he'd been told it before saying, "Yeah. I'm pretty sure the only scarring part of that was knowing that someone out there is dumb enough to mistake you for a girl."

"So I don't look…?"

"Nah. You do look pregnant. Or maybe tumorous, if you don't want to guess that a boy could be pregnant—b-but then I guess you could mistake a tumorous woman for pregnant, huh?" Sting added hastily when Rogue glared at him. Acknowledging that he was fat was one thing, but joking that he looked like he had a massive tumor was where Rogue drew the line. "She probably had bad eyes, and a powerful capacity for denial."

Rogue snickered at that and flopped over on their bed, tension over looking like a young lady eased. Tension over having to share a bed with Sting… wasn't quite so eased, but he'd get over it. It was a nice room. Not fancy like what Natsu had sprung for, but nice in its own way. Worn hardwood floors, moderately new rugs, quilt bedding, and a glass door that lead out to a frozen over pond all lent to a quaint, homey feel.

"Thanks for earlier. Making that scene."

"Don't mention it. I'm banned from all museums in the city now, so we both got something out of it."

Rogue made a mental note to scratch other museums off his list of places to see. That might make more time for finding something less sight-seeing and more fun oriented anyway. "You can be impossible, sometimes."

"I'm not the one who wanted to go on vacation to a country that hasn't heard of pregnant men only seven weeks before I was due."

"Again: why couldn't you be the pregnant one?"

"Because you were in that idiot girl's blast range when her spell misfired, and I was off hiding in an alley."

"Coward," Rogue told him, reaching back and pulling a pillow down to rest his head on.

"Butterball," Sting teased back, patting Rogue's stomach at the same time. "So I don't come off as a good parent, do I?"

"Not to that old bat, at least," Rogue mumbled.

"Are you going to sleep?"

"No. Just getting comfortable."

"Oh. Good." Sting looked away a moment, then back to Rogue. "You said Natsu was studying up on parenting. How's that going?"

"As well as your cooking." Rogue told him. "When I think about him as a father, I sweat a little. At least with you I'm confident that the child won't be smothered to death when I turn my back. You seem to have a better grasp of this than me. Then again, I wouldn't have to worry as much about Natsu accidentally poisoning Alex. I don't think… But you'd know not to feed them your own cooking, right? You always seem on top of this."

Sing laughed. "To be honest, when I realized I needed to get you back, one of the scenarios I imagined us in was me saying I was nervous about being a dad and you interpreting that as me not wanting the baby. I was thinking of all the other apologies I would be making after you came home, so I'd already worked out what I'd say to you when you took that as me saying I'd never wanted to have a kid with you. I mostly started studying up on this for that."

Although he'd never come home with Sting.

Rogue brushed the thought off. "I haven't been _that_ irrational. Between the three of us, Natsu's the only one who was able to choose whether or not he wanted this."

"But you'd still take it as me not wanting the kid?" Sting asked jokingly.

"Maybe," Rogue confessed. "It would depend on my mood at the time."

"I do want Alex."

"I know."

"And you."

Rogue sighed. "I'm not about to—" He stopped.

"To…?"

"Hang on." Rogue stood up, cheeks red. "Um… Sting, I could use something to eat, could you go get me… something…"

"Anything in particular?"

"Something salty," Rogue told him dismissively, hurrying into the bathroom.

"Take your time!" Sting shouted to him through the door before going to follow orders. Something salty. He hoped Rogue hadn't meant a specific something salty when he said that.

-o-

When he came back with a basket of fries, Rogue had changed clothes.

"Did you need those to get comfy?" Sting asked teasingly.

"I don't think I'm going to be comfortable until your spawn stops moving," Rogue told him.

"Mood swings?"

"The bastard kicked me in the crotch."

"I didn't know Alex could reach there," Sting said. "Seems like you'd have plenty of natural padding to keep that from hurting though. And even then, a baby's kick isn't exactly a nutcracker."

Rogue held a hand out and didn't reply until Sting had passed him the consolation fries. "Yes, but there isn't much padding between my uterus and bladder."

"Ah. Should I do laundry?"

"Yes."

"Would you like me to pick up dinner too?"

"Please."

"Something salty?"

"God, no."

"But you're eating the fries."

"I said no."

Sting gave up, throwing his hands up in surrender and going to get the clothes in need of being washed.

"Wait," Rogue sat up and held the fried for Sting to see. "Where did you get these?"

"Street fair."

"Let's go see that."

"Can I put your piss pants in the wash first?"

-o-

Sting had assured Rogue that his thick winter coat made his baby bump, while not invisible, much less obvious. Of course, Sting was still pressing an ice pack over his left eye, so who knew how well he could see right then.

"I miss you not being moody."

"I miss not being moody, too," Rogue let him know. "You said it was this way?" he asked, pointing to the left when they met a fork in the road.

"Smells like fair food in that direction, doesn't it?"

Greasy, salty fair food. After the fries, Rogue wasn't sure he'd want anything like that. What he was being drawn to was all the noise. There was bound to be _something_ worthwhile to do with Sting there.

He turned the corner and spotted it, dozens of vendor booths set up down the street, and sounds drifting from the next few streets over to suggest that this went on for blocks.

"Hey, does this look like it's going to swell?" Sting asked.

Rogue looked back and inspected Sting's eye when the ice pack was lifted off of it. "No. I think your good. I didn't punch _that_ hard."

"Good." Sting tossed the icepack aside, missing a trash bin and not caring. "Alex still throwing a fit?"

"Unfortunately." Rogue rubbed his stomach. "They seem to be calming down though. I'm going to be paranoid about this from now on."

"We can get you adult diapers."

"I _will_ give you a black eye."

"How about crepes instead then?" Sting suggested. (Not that crepes could properly perform the function of diapers _or_ black eyes.) He gestured to one of the closer vendors, who'd set out hotplates and was making crepes in front of his customers.

Rogue studied the vendor for a moment, then nodded. "Crepes would be acceptable."

Sting pulled out his wallet, but by the time he'd counted the amount he'd need to purchase the treat for Rogue, his ex was already paying for his own order.

"Hey," Sting said, running up to Rogue. "Come on, let me pay for it."

"A boy is supposed to pay for his girlfriend on a date," Rogue told him. "I'm not a girl, I'm Natsu's boyfriend, and this isn't a date."

"Right. Natsu's boyfriend."

The vendor handed Rogue his crepe, who accepted it and walked ahead muttering something about how the sugar would get Alex worked up again. "You want one, boyfriend?" the vendor asked. Sting shook his head.

It was surprising, to Sting, how much Rogue took the lead. Usually, Rogue would have followed him around, insisting all the while that nothing they did together was _worth_ having done. Why was Rogue taking charge tonight? He couldn't begin to guess.

Was that why Rogue liked Natsu? Could Natsu tell what to do with Rogue? Th-that couldn't be! He and Rogue had known each other so long… _Could_ Natsu be better at reading Rogue?

Sighing, Sting shook his head and followed after Rogue, who'd startled babbling about finding a game for them to play together. He had a week to reconnect, as well as to evaluate what connection he was dealing with. There was no need to panic on day one.

-o-

On day four Sting felt he had a reason to panic.

"Fro likes this trip better," Frosch has said out of the blue. "Rogue doesn't ask Fro to go away and look at stars with Lector."

Sting bit his lip and tried not to acknowledge that he was prompting Frosch into spilling Rogue's secrets as he said, "Well, Lector wasn't around then."

"No. Rogue wanted Fro to play with Happy."

"Does he feel like you two don't get along?" If the answer was yes, then that might be a way to drive Natsu and Rogue away, but…

"No. Happy and Fro are friends. Rogue just wanted private time to play with Natsu."

"Did they bring board games?" Sting joked.

Frosch nodded. "They didn't mind Fro and Happy playing along during the day. Night games were Rogue and Natsu only, though."

It didn't take a genius to figure out what those games were. Was that why Rogue had been so _into_ everything they did? Was he still high off of his time with Natsu? He'd gone out on his own that morning to track down some famous statue that Sting hadn't cared about, leaving the blonde with a good solid hour to pace back and forth and play back everything Frosch had said in his mind.

_Rogue_ had told Frosch to go. Sting sat down on the bed and buried his face in his arms as he let that sink in. Rogue had been the one asking for private time. Natsu hadn't slipped the cats out to surprise Rogue with a romantic evening. Rogue was in on it. Rogue was…

"You're sleeping with Natsu," Sting blurted out as soon as Rogue stepped into the room.

Rogue stopped at the doorway, thinking to shut it behind him in case things got personal, but not coming any closer. "Yes. You've already stuck your foot in your mouth on that one before."

"But you're initiating it," Sting accused, looking up at Rogue. "You're _planning_ it. You went and did it… did _him_ after making out with me. When you knew you were coming here."

"That time was—" Rogue bit his tongue. What had it been? He couldn't tell Sting that kissing him was a mistake. It hadn't been _right_ but… but… but what?

"It was a mistake, wasn't it?" Sting demanded. "You think we're a mistake. And I bet you told Natsu that agreeing to _this_ was a mistake too."

"No. I just told him I was coming with you as a friend. _Which is what I told you_." Rogue reminded him.

Sting wouldn't hear it. "So this is it? I lost."

"Lost?" Rogue hissed. "What, you thought this was some win or lose game? I'm not a game, Sting."

"Well, I don't know. You _are_ playing us," Sting snapped at him.

"I had sex with my boyfriend! Sue me!" Rogue yelled. "You weren't complaining when I cheated on him with you. If I recall, you kick cheaters out of _your_ house."

"Well why don't you just tell me what the fuck is wrong with me?" Sting demanded. "We were together for _years_ and the closest we got to sex was you kicking me in the balls—which is how it feels seeing you _instigating_ it with someone you haven't even _known_ for a year. Did you just not _want_ me that way?"

"Of _course_ I don't want to sleep with you!" Rogue screamed. "You're impossible! You kick me out for _not_ cheating, you pull me back in for cheating _with_ you, and now you get mad at me for trying to make it up to my boyfriend! If you're going to be like this for the rest of the week…" He caught himself. The whole hotel must have been able to hear him.

Taking a deep breath to calm himself, Rogue strode across the room and began to grab his things, tossing them into his suitcase with no concern for organization. When was the last time he'd done that? Oh yeah, when he game to get his possessions after Sting dumped him. Asshole.

"What are you doing?" Sting demanded.

"Leaving," Rogue told him. "If you're going to be such a hypocrite about everything I do, I can't be with you."

"But—"

"I will see you back home. Enjoy your vacation."

He was missing a few toiletries, but Rogue didn't want to ruin the effect of him storming out by grabbing his shampoo and toothbrush after saying such a thing. He grabbed his bag and turned to Frosch, silently ordering her to follow as he stormed out of the room.

Sting sighed. Wonderful. Not only had he failed to undo the clearly massive damage Natsu had managed on _his_ trip. He'd made things worse.

"If you take two months to tell him sorry again, he'll probably have an engagement ring next time," Lector pointed out. "You might want to follow."

-o-

Rogue sat on the same bench he had Sting had first caught their breath on when arriving in Joya, waiting for his boat. The trip back wasn't something he was eagerly anticipating, but Frosch had looked around and bought him the safest motion sickness treatment for the expecting that he could find, and that would make the whole thing at least bearable.

The boat was late, though only by a few minutes. He'd played up his condition at the ticket booth, pretending he could pop Alex out any second and insisting that he wanted to be home with his family when the time came. The young woman manning the booth had eaten it up, and pulled some strings to get him on the next boat out. After that he'd have had to wait a day, and likely go back to Sting while he waited.

When they started boarding Rogue hesitated to get on, waiting to be the last and not putting up a fight when somebody helped him onto the horrible, rocking, bobbing, constantly in motion torture device. He had to assure three employees on the ferry that he wasn't doubled over because he'd gone into labor.

Going to his cabin, where he had no windows or fresh air, would only make it worse. Rogue wheeled his bag up to the deck and leaned over the rail there, taking the medicine and shutting his eyes as he waited for it to take effect. The boat was blowing it's horn. Once it started _really_ moving it would only get worse.

"Rogue!"

Rogue opened his eyes. Sting was running along the dock, dragging Lector and his own bag behind him. But the boat had already pulled its loading ramp up. Too bad. Rogue sighed and shut his eyes again, trying to tune out Sting calling his name again and again.

When he heard the collective gasps of everyone else on the boat, he opened his eyes again. That was pretty impressive, actually. Sting had managed a jump from the dock, and was clinging to the deck by… was that only two fingers? He'd go help, but it looked like Lector was already on it. Of course. Why had neither of them thought about Lector just flying him up?

And where had he seen that before?

Rogue looked away as Sting stumbled over to him, struggling to keep a straight face as the effects of being on a boat set in.

"I'm sorry," Sting gasped. "I'm sorry. I talk without… thinking and can… over-react too… selfishly and I'm… sorry."

He was drawing the eyes of everyone on deck. Rogue looked away, hoping his tremble would be discounted as motion sickness. "I was hoping… not to hear that from you again."

"Yeah…" Sting paused to swallow back the vomit rising in his throat. "I know… I… shit. Now I've got to… make up _two_ screw ups, don't I?"

"And I suppose you can manage _those_ without screwing up?" Rogue demanded.

"I… I can do my best to…"

Ah. That's where he'd seen this before. In the romantic comedy Natsu had picked for them to watch the week before, the boy had chased his ex down and leapt onto a boat to let her know he still wanted her. She'd seen his determination and that had been enough for her to ignore how he'd been lazy and irresponsible and not realized how much she was worth. In the movie it had worked, but Rogue was not the silly little idiot girl in a romantic comedy. Real life didn't take one grand gesture as enough to make up for a growing list of errors.

"Well once you're sure of that, maybe you can talk to me again," Rogue told him. "Until then, I'm going to have to agree with what Natsu said when you first came back. Don't bother me again."

He left then, trying and failing to ignore the sound of Sting being approached by a ticket taker and demanding some proof that he was allowed on the boat, and even ignoring Frosch's cries for him to wait for her. He locked himself in his cabin and tried his best to cope with the motion sickness with no fresh air to ease it. He must have looked awful. He certainly felt awful.

Why did Sting have to get so hung up over the whole sex issue? He didn't want to discuss it. He'd never wanted to discuss it.

_Of_ course _I don't want to sleep with you… because I felt so much safer without that expectation._ "Because I liked just being your boyfriend and spending time with you."

So had it been a mistake to go farther with Natsu?


	21. Chapter 21

He hadn't heard from Sting in weeks. Rogue was beginning to worry that Sting had taken his declaration to heart one evening, lying on his mattress and drawing circles on his stomach with his finger, when Lucy burst into the house.

"I'd tell you to knock," Rogue told him, "But you had no way of knowing Natsu wasn't here."

"He isn't," Lucy said. "He's in the hospital. Come with me. Hurry."

Rogue couldn't exactly scramble to his feet, but he got up as fast as he could. It was still slow enough that Frosch had ample warning to roll off of him and right herself.

Mindful of her burdened and stubby legged followers, Lucy didn't full out sprint towards the hospital, instead keeping a brisk pace and explaining to Rogue along the way. "Sting's there too," she started off with, and from that point on she had Rogue's undivided attention. "It didn't look like anything major, but Wendy was gone and Porlyusica refused to look at them, and the master was worried about broken bones."

"On one of them, or both?"

"Both. Sting was having trouble putting his weight on one leg. Natsu might have cracked a few ribs. Things got out of hand at the guild."

Rogue dug his heels in, realization of what happened coming to him. "The guild?" He asked. "They were injured at the guild?"

"Well… Sting came looking for you," Lucy explained. "Natsu wanted to know what happened when you two were in Joya, but Sting ignored him. It escalated fast."

"They got injured fighting over my screw up," Rogue sighed. "I… should I really go see them?"

"Of course!" Lucy cried. "Natsu will be _heart broken_ if you don't make sure he's…" she stopped. "Well… he might be hurt. Maybe. He could also wonder why you worried. And anyway, from what Frosch said it sounded like Sting was the one who messed everything up."

He might wonder why Rogue had worried... Or he could worry that Rogue didn't really care because he was more interested in Sting. Because he seemed a lot more sensitive to what Rogue did. Had it been that way the first few months? Rogue couldn't remember. It had certainly been bad since he had asked to go to Joya.

"No. This is all my fault. Natsu said there was no pressure for dating him. If I'd just ended things when Sting first came back… or if I'd just pushed Sting away when he returned… he was right. I _am_ playing them," Rogue moaned. "I just make them dance around trying to be the perfect guy and judge their every move."

"That's not—"

"Yes it is," Rogue insisted.

How he'd known how her sentence would end, Lucy didn't care. She grabbed his arm and tugged him forward. "Okay, you're messing with the feelings of two guys. You're going to hurt their feelings a lot more if you stand here and whine rather than go see if they're okay."

Rogue glared at Lucy, wishing with all his might that he could drop kick her just then. But she was right. He should at least whine while he walked.

Anticipation started to grow as the hospital came into view. They were going to ask him who he visited first. They'd compare times, try to brag about it as a sign of which he cared about more. Even if he went by who was closest, it would end up being "he doesn't like you enough to go out of his way." Did he have to pick someone to see first? Natsu was his boyfriend, but then he ought to do _something_ to let Sting know he wasn't hated. Or would it be aggravating things further if he did that? Maybe he shouldn't even visit Sting… if he wanted to crush him. He couldn't do that. Of _course_ Sting would be upset that Rogue had slept with Natsu. Had he overreacted? Sting could have kept that to himself during their trip, but he didn't deserve complete rejection now.

Rogue's head was spinning from trying to figure out a proper solution by the time he reached the hospital door. He stopped their and wouldn't budge, despite Lucy's insistence he go in. Eventually she and Frosch left without him, one to see Natsu and the other to check on Rogue. Who did he see first? Pick the wrong answer and he might end up waiting outside the hospital fretting about it in a few weeks?

Alex squirmed, reminding Rogue that if they fought in a few weeks, it would probably be outside his delivery room. Joy. At least Sting's brat had finally flipped over. His last doctor's appointment had included a celebration from the staff when the discovered that they didn't have to deliver a child feet first on top of having to deliver for a pregnant male, so that would be one fewer complications when Sting and Natsu tried to murder each other arguing over who got to be with him when he gave birth.

Rogue was deeply engaged with reassuring himself that if they _did_ get that carried away there would be plenty of medical staff on hand to resuscitate them when Lucy gave up and went inside without them.

At some point it occurred to him that he was standing in a hospital doorway, so he moved to the side and rested against a wall as he continued pondering who to visit first. Whoever he went to, it would probably be best if he got inside before visiting hours ended.

Still lost in thought, Rogue didn't notice that he'd gotten his own visitors until a hand clapped the back of his shoulder. He jumped and spun to face whoever had dared sneak up on him, only to be greeted by a grinning Natsu. "Lucy said you had some panic attack and couldn't come in."

"I… yeah." Rogue blushed. "You're not hurt?"

"Just bruised." Natsu lifted back his vest to show off his bandages.

"That's a relief." Unsure what else to do, Rogue smiled for Natsu and pretended he didn't see Sting doing his best to look small in the background.

Too bad Natsu wasn't going to let that happen. "Well, come on. Frosch told me you finally came to your senses and told this ass to beat it." He gestured to Sting. "Let him know you meant it."

Rogue turned to face Sting, who couldn't meet his eyes despite holding his Frosch like she was a baby. Why should he? Chasing down a boat and leaping to get on, only to be told in front of the crowd you drew that you weren't wanted around. Rogue was impressed that Sting had still come. "I _did_ say I didn't want you to come back…"

Sting flinched. "I—"

"So we're even," Rogue decided, "For when you kicked me out, although I didn't make you wait as long as I had to. You still need to make it up to me for what happened in Joya."

"What? No!" Natsu yelled. "Why are you—what happened in—Rogue, what are you _doing_?"

"Letting Sting know I don't hate him."

"He thought you cheated on him!"

The words 'I cheated on you' rose in Rogue's throat, but he managed to swallow them back before he could vomit them up onto Natsu. "He did," Rogue said instead. "I can't fault him for being suspicious."

"Fro can't either," Frosch muttered, getting more closely nuzzled into Sting's arms.

"What? Because you didn't explain how you got pregnant? He could have asked!" Natsu pointed out.

Huh. That was true…

Rogue shook his head. "I'm not turning Sting away."

Natsu turned to Sting and said through clenched teeth, "You going to gloat about this one?"

Sting shook his head too. "I'm still trying not to say or do anything to make him get on a boat to escape me again."

"That didn't even work," Rogue grumbled.

For all intents and purposes it did, but Sting just shrugged and let it drop. "If I'm allowed to speak to you again, how's Alex?" He asked, ignoring Natsu's glare.

"Good. The doctor says I probably won't need a C-section, but they still won't tell me where Alex isn't coming out."

"No!" Natsu cried. "You can't just… Rogue! You _finally_ told him to beat it. We were _finally_ going back to being a normal couple without an extra guy hanging out and taking you on vacations. We haven't been that since… since… since before you looked pregnant."

Rogue bit his lip, remembering the issue at hand. "I'm sorry, Natsu. I'm sorry but I just… I can't… I…" He took a deep breath. "I feel so awful… going with one of you then the other and comparing the two of you and…"

"I suppose the next step up would be to take us both on a date at once," Natsu muttered. "Maybe we can have a threesome too."

"Don't be gross," Rogue told him.

Natsu scowled. "My boyfriend just backtracked on telling his ex to get out of his life. I've been putting up with your… your… _being with him_ for half a year now, and I thought it was done. I'm allowed to be mad."

Rogue had no response for that one. He looked away.

"Rogue."

"I don't like it either," Rogue said. "Being this way… treating the two of you the way I do… I'm sorry. I really… I really just don't know and…"

"Does Rogue have to date two people at once?" Frosch asked. "Fro doesn't want to keep track of that many boyfriends."

"It's only two," Natsu told him.

"Three," Sting corrected. "Rogue's a boyfriend too. I got chewed out for that one in Joya."

Natsu growled, almost lunging for Sting before Rogue yanked him back by his scarf.

"We're right outside a hospital, but let's still not do anything that requires medical attention," Rogue said. "Natsu, I'm not ditching Sting, I've known him for way longer. Sting—dating Natsu."

"I noticed," Sting felt the need to say. He would have appreciated a justification for why Natsu got dating priority, but at least things hadn't degraded to the point that they were going on a three person date. Clearly, none of them had wanted that.

-o-

"How did this happen?" Rogue moaned.

Sting and Natsu shrugged before turning back to the ticket booth. "Two please," Natsu said. He paid for the tickets and stepped aside, giving Sting a smug look and daring him to buy his own ticket for the demolition derby.

Sting ordered, then turned around and asked Rogue, "Why is it okay for Natsu to buy your ticket?"

"Because I don't want to be here," Rogue explained. "If he didn't buy it, I wouldn't get one."

"Ah." They'd picked a dud for their three person date.

Natsu, either oblivious to this or practicing his being less concerned about pleasing Rogue constantly, said, "This'll be great. Gajeel is out of town today, so he should miss his chance to buy tickets. Okay, what do couples do at a derby?"

"Watch the event," Rogue told him.

"No… no not like that. I'll have to get you a non-alcoholic drink, maybe a soda, and a snack, and I'll bring a coat so I can put it over you and say 'here, I don't want you getting cold.'" Natsu mused.

Rogue sighed. "I don't see how any of the qualities I'm having trouble with when it comes to the two of you could come out at a race where you're _supposed_ to crash cars."

"Fro doesn't either," Fro muttered.

"Frosch, come back over here," Rogue ordered.

Reluctantly, Frosch climbed out of Sting's arms and flew over to Rogue.

"Where's Lector?" Natsu demanded suddenly. Why did Sting have to get Frosch to cozy up to him?

"Harassing Orga. Apparently I'm too large for a sneak attack. I was left to myself, so I figured I'd come to see if Rogue really wanted me gone, to answer your question from earlier. Turns out it was a good move on my part."

What question? Something that Natsu got testy about at the guild? Rogue could only sigh and shake his head. It was like Sting wanted everything to end in a heated battle.

Natsu handed Rogue his ticket and patted his back before giving his stomach a loving rub. He wasn't the father, Sting was, but he'd become appropriately attached. And showing that he could put a hand on Rogue's stomach had gotten Sting to shut up and resort to glaring like there was no tomorrow. He wished he'd known that would work earlier. Finally, a comeback for when Sting started to barb him about not being enough for Rogue.

When his hand lingered too long, Rogue squirmed. It was like waiting outside the hospital again. Would moving away upset Natsu? Please Sting? Or would it do the opposite if he tolerated the touch for longer? He needed to do something to make it _stop_ before trying not to send any signal for them to jump on drove him mad.


	22. Chapter 22

Natsu handing Rogue a jacket, despite being preplanned to make him look like a better boyfriend, and been nice. Rogue hugged it as tight as he could around himself while his two dates argued over who got to be the one to buy him a hotdog from a passing vendor.

Rolling his eyes, Rogue got up and walked over to the concessions stand. When he returned with an undersized and overpriced bucket of popcorn they were still arguing, and the vendor was slowly backing away.

"Guys? I'm good," Rogue called out to them. They looked back and saw he'd taken care of himself on the snack front. Shoulders sagging, they both returned to take their seats on either side of him.

"How are you liking this?" Natsu asked, gesturing to the whole setup. The sunken down racetrack that was barely visible beneath the dust and discarded car parts, the sweaty, noisy bleachers, the people who had paid at the gate to pack themselves like sardines at the edge of the raised up spectators area. "Look, you can see Gajeel squished between six people down there."

Any comments on what he thought of watching people try to kill each other with giant metal death boxes hurtling around loops again and again died in Rogue's throat at the mention of Gajeel in the crowd. Scanning for him proved to be a better use of time than watching cars ram into one another.

Sting shifted just the teensiest bit closer while Rogue's attention was turned and said, "You would have liked a different dating venue, wouldn't you have?"

"Well, this is a lot less obvious than taking two guys two a restaurant," Rogue admitted. Not that he wouldn't have preferred the restaurant. "There may have been better places to go."

"Why didn't you stop us from getting tickets?"

"Natsu was interested."

Sting chewed on his lip. Why did Rogue have to make it awkward for him? Rogue had decided to have his two-timer's date at a venue that _Natsu_ wanted. What a wonderful way to make it clear that Natsu was in the lead.

"After this, we could go down to the lake too," Natsu offered. "We won't get to see the sunset, but we can watch the stars."

"Sounds nice…"

"H-hey!" Sting cried. "You picked _this_. I get to take Rogue somewhere next."

"No, because you're clinging to _our_ date. _We_ are a couple."

"Natsu, a three person date was your idea," Rogue pointed out.

Natsu silenced himself, but wrapped an arm around Rogue's for good measure. Rogue held his breath and said nothing about too much physical contact.

It didn't last too long. Natsu let go to get up and cheer when a car was sent crashing into the wall of the race track. Didn't it bother him to see all those vehicles? Rogue glanced to his left and saw Sting looking, if not as amused, at least unfazed. Maybe it was just Alex squirming that was making him feel queasy.

Maybe it was labor. That would be a good excuse to get out of the most awkward, least interesting date he'd ever been on. Rogue rubbed his stomach and held his breath, counting off seconds and waiting to see if he'd feel a contraction. Nope. Nothing. Damn it. He knew he was supposed to wait two more weeks before he tried to induce anything, but was it too much to ask for to _not_ be pregnant anymore?

Oh, and also for a chance to escape a date with two people at once.

"Is your stomach hurting?" Sting asked.

"If he's uncomfortable, I can take care of it," Natsu insisted, sitting back down and pulling Rogue close. " _You're_ the reason he's pregnant anyway, so his discomfort is _your_ fault."

"Actually, that idiot who's spell misfired—" Rogue was pulled halfway onto Natsu's lap before he could finish protesting. He decided not to bother arguing that one. He was tall enough and heavy enough that Natsu would regret that in a minute or two.

Until then Rogue pretended not to notice Sting fuming or Natsu beginning to tremble under the weight on his legs and enjoyed his popcorn. They'd given him a small bucket. Lousy, cheap concessions stands. With a giant stomach that the whole town knew about and several months of his boyfriend and ex seeing him eat like a pig, Rogue was beyond caring about appearances. After finishing off the snack he licked his fingers, wiped any remaining butter from the paper bucket, then, grudgingly, got off of Natsu's lap to go get more popcorn.

Natsu didn't invite him back up when he came back, which was fine. Sting also stole a fistful of popcorn, which was annoying, but not the end of the world.

"Are you sure you should be having so much sodium?" Sting asked after eating what he suspected was actually a fistful of salt.

"I don't care," Rogue told him. He was getting thirsty but… he glanced down to the concessions stand again. He didn't want to have to get up and stand in line a third time.

Without being asked, both boys hopped up to get him a drink.

Fine. Whatever. As long as at least _one_ of them came back with plain water, he didn't care. They could go on acting like idiots all night and he wasn't going to do a damn thing to stop him.

The both came back with a bottle of water for him. Rogue accepted the one that took less effort to reach and uncapped it, taking a sip and not bothering to see who looked like they'd just won some petty victory.

Maybe if he went down and found Gajeel, he'd be more interested in what was going on. Rogue sighed and buried his head in his hands. He had to do this. Natsu wanted this, and he couldn't be a bitch and only do what he liked.

"Are you getting tired?" Sting asked.

This time it was Natsu who jumped in with health concerns. "You shouldn't be stressing yourself while you're pregnant. If you need to rest, we can leave early. I'll take you home."

Rogue might have gone for that, were it not for the challenging look Natsu had shot at Sting when he finished making the offer.

"I'm fine," he mumbled.

"If you need anything—"

"I'm fine!"

Sting and Natsu scooted back as Rogue got to his feet. He turned on his heels to face both boys, held up one finger for each, bowed in apology to the rest of the audience, then turned and stormed out of the bleachers.

"What was that?" Natsu asked.

"Did we come on too strong?"

Natsu cursed. "He's really leaving!" He sprang to his feet, stumbling over people as he tried to squeeze out of his row and chase after Rogue.

Sting waited a moment, wondering if he _really_ wanted to chase Rogue down again. It had worked so well last time, after all. When he saw Rogue trying to squeeze his way through the jam packed crowd beneath the bleachers he figured that, if nothing else, it was probably better for the baby not to be crushed between strangers with only a few weeks before being born, and maybe he should go and cut a path... of something. If Natsu was going to lead Rogue out, Sting didn't want to be the jerk who stayed behind to watch people crash into each other. Best go keep Rogue from getting crushed.

Rogue himself was beginning to see the issue. Even when people saw his stomach and tried not to bump into him, whoever was behind them would push them forward anyway. He grunted as one man with a _real_ beer gut pressed against his baby bump, grinning and muttering something about fellow alcohol lovers with breath that said 'love' wasn't a strong enough word for this man's relationship with alcohol. The smell in his strong nose made him reel, and before he knew it he was on his knees, the people in the crowd having shifted, leaving him with no way to orient himself. Where was the exit?

Being on the lower edge of the average height range, Rogue needed to stand on his toes if he wanted to look over the heads of most women and some men. In a crowd made up almost entirely of men, many burly and much taller than he was, he didn't even bother trying. He picked a direction and shoved forward, growling under his breath when people complained. Between the shriek of engines and metal on metal and idiots roaring with chaotic delight, not to mention the stink of alcohol everywhere, Rogue was completely overwhelmed. The next person to piss him off would be neutered, he was sure he could still kick hard enough to do that.

That was his plan at least, but the next person to get on his nerves had done so by shoving him, muttering something about brats needing to be right up in the action. Breaking free of the crowd with the push, Rouge had a moment to register that he'd mistakenly headed towards the racetrack. Then a moment more to see the hand that had shoved him with enough strength to flip him over the protective rail that separated the spectator area and the track

He threw both arms out, flailing and knocking down two other men as he tried to right himself. No use. He managed to get one foot on the ledge from the other side of the rail, but his weight was distributed too awkwardly for him to recover. He swung to the side with the momentum from his effort and slipped off the ledge.

_Your center of balance is off thanks to the kid, so be careful, okay?_

Rogue twisted as he fell from the ledge, hand shooting out to grab anything, anyone, and stop his fall. The crowd just stared in confusion and slow dawning horror. No one liking the idea of the pregnant boy falling onto the track, but no one thinking to take his hand before he was out of reach.

_Since you're putting so much effort into getting along with that idiot, I won't always be there to catch you._

Rogue tried to land on his feet, but his leg twisted and he fell to his butt. He must have jostled Alex, since the baby began to squirm like there was no tomorrow—and there might not be. When he tried to stand, pain shot up his leg, and while one of the magic four-wheelers had swerved to steer clear of him, the giant hunk of fast moving steel it had collided with moments before had no control as it sped his way with more than enough momentum to turn him into a pancake.

Screw pride. Rogue threw his hands over his head and screamed.

"Rogue!" he heard both boys cry.

Peeking out from under his arms, Rogue watched in slow motion as a bolt of fire strike the oncoming vehicle. His relief was short lived, as it only flipped over and kept sliding towards him at breakneck speed.

"Get up!" He heard Sting cry. Giving him no chance to protest, as if he could even get the words out before he was killed, something grabbed his collar and tossed him aside.

Time ground almost to a halt as flew through the air, managing to catch sight of Sting standing where he'd just been, relief and panic dancing together on his face.

_But I will do my best to keep you safe._

Then the four-wheeler connected, and Rogue lost sense of time completely.


	23. Chapter 23

It was odd, Sting later decided, that the first thing he noticed when he woke up wasn't how much pain he was in. Actually, what he did notice was that the cracks in the ceiling looked like a cowboy, and as he stared at them and turned his head, it almost seemed like the cowboy got up and danced. How funny.

He was twisting around in bed watching the cowboy dance in place when he noticed that, hey, he was in a bed. When had that happened? And why was that strange? The cowboy sat down and waited patiently while Sting tried to recall what happened. Right, right. The derby. He hadn't been able to get the leverage in time to toss Rogue to safety without putting himself in harm's way. That sounded bad. He hoped he hadn't died. It would explain why he didn't feel any pain.

The cowboy faded away, becoming cracks in the ceiling of the hospital room again as Sting struggled to think clearly through the painkillers. Painkillers themselves were never something that occurred to him, but he did recognize an blood transfusion bag, and realize that he was in a hospital from that. If he had died, that would be pretty frivolous to include in the afterlife, heaven, hell, or otherwise.

Fairly convinced that he was still alive, Sting shut his eyes and fell back asleep.

-o-

The next time he woke up he did notice a dull throb in his… everywhere. It was significantly less dull around his right arm, which was likely due to Rogue clutching it. With some effort, Sting turned his head to get a good look at the boy and smiled. "Hey…" No bruises. No bandages. Bump still there. "Is… Alex okay?"

Rogue's attempt to nod ended with him bursting into tears. Sting would have told him not to cry, but the truth was that since crying made Rogue let go of his arm, he didn't mind. He'd never seen Rogue crying that hard though, and it almost hurt as much as having his arm squeezed had. No matter how much the boy rubbed at his cheeks they were still soaked.

"Don't…" Sting said after a minute. "I'm alright. Don't be upset."

Rogue hiccuped and went on crying.

"Really. Don't be such a crybaby. I'm not dead."

Apparently, that had been the wrong thing to say. Rogue buried his face in his hands and wailed.

Realizing nothing he said would make Rogue stop crying, Sting shifted to a more comfortable position and reached out with the arm Rogue had been hurting, placing a bruised hand on his ex's knee. The contact made Rogue hesitate a moment, and his sobs became more controlled.

"Mr. Cheney?" Sting and Rogue looked up at a nurse who had appeared in the doorway. "Do you believe your friend is going to survive _now_?"

Rogue nodded.

"That's wonderful. We need you to come with us now. We have to confirm your child is alright."

With one last look at Sting, and one last tremor of a suppressed sob, Rogue got up and followed the nurse out of the room.

Sting's heart plummeted to his stomach. _Was_ something wrong with Alex? It hadn't looked like Rogue had fallen on his stomach when he'd been thrown across the racetrack, but he hadn't exactly had enough time to asses that before getting rammed into by an armored race car. The question of how he survived whatever speed the damn thing had been going when it struck him took a backseat to the possibility that little Alex was no more.

"Alex should be fine," Natsu said. Sitting against the same wall as the headboard for Sting's bed, the blond hadn't even seen him. "They're worried about Rogue stressing himself. He's refused to leave the hospital since they started admitting visitors to your room."

"When was that?" Sting asked, trying to crane his neck to see his arch enemy.

"About six days ago. They were starting to worry that you might not wake up at this point," Natsu told him.

Six? No wonder Rogue had been so upset. And Rogue had stayed in the hospital and waited for him the whole time? Even if that couldn't be good for him, that was a sweet gesture. Sting found himself smiling despite being trapped in bed with no one but Natsu in the room.

"I suppose I should thank you," Natsu mumbled.

Well, the meant that he wasn't likely to be strangled, despite the perfect motive and opportunity. "For what?" Sting asked.

"For getting Rogue out of there. For saving my boyfriend and kid."

Sting hissed. "Alex is _my_ daughter."

Natsu had to take a moment to get past the fact that Sting had been allowed to know the baby's gender before responding. "You should have realized that earlier. You already had your chance with Rogue. You blew it. You didn't deserve another."

"I didn't," Sting agreed, trying not to bristle and irritate his wounds as Natsu continued to aggravate him. "If Rogue had as little heart in him as he likes to pretend he does, I wouldn't. Even then, maybe he's so kind that I still don't. Whenever I go off with him, it seems like every action he makes is determined by what will hurt you the least. But you know what's weird…?"

"What?" Natsu mumbled. He wasn't going to like the answer. He didn't have to hear it. Even if Sting would say it whether he was asked or not, he could always get up and walk out of the room. But whatever Sting wanted to say, Natsu wanted to know. Anything he might be able to use later. Sting got to know Alex's gender early. He needed _something_ , even that blond bastard's opinion of what he was doing wrong, to work with.

The blond bastard smiled and said, "I stopped trying to pick a fun date for Rogue. It's almost impossible. Nine out of ten things I'd pick with him in mind wouldn't interest him, and the last one would only work if he was in the right mood." Just thinking off how he'd nearly driven himself insane trying to please Rogue when they first started going out brought a smile to his face. "But even then, I'd never pick something he hated so obviously as he did that derby."

"If you think I was being selfish going there, he approved it. He said he wanted me to not do everything with him in mind."

"Well that's just it," Sting said. "You think I forced Rogue to cook? Maybe I never noticed just how much he didn't like it, but you can't blame me. He insisted he handle meals. You've seen what it looks like when I try, and when I offered to use most of my share of our earnings taking him out to spare him the chore more often, he called it a waste of money. I'd have kept trying to get it down, but it's a little disheartening when your new boyfriend always says you're so awful at something that they'll just do it themselves. With all the effort I put into it trying to win him back, I can see why he'd think that. Even now, after I spent months practicing, I bet you he'd still tell me I'm a safety hazard at the stove." Sting chuckled, but the motion hurt, so he didn't do it much. "You know what else he'd tell me? He told me when the date venue I picked sucked. If we'd never split up and _I'd_ taken him to that derby, well, for starters, I'd have had to drag him there. Then, assuming I had blackmail to make him stay," which he did have, "he'd have let me know the whole time how bored he was. Not once while he sat there dying inside did he tell you it wasn't interesting to him. The most interested he looked was when he heard someone else was there."

"He said it wasn't his thing while we were on vacation." That counted.

"And he came along anyway, and did his best not to make it clear how much he hated it. He only left when we got too competitive, and I bet he was glad for the excuse to run away."

"So what?" Natsu demanded. "You think that's bad? He loves me enough to put up with things that don't interest him, and you had to try."

"No, doofus. I already said I _didn't_ try. And Rogue was comfortable enough with our relationship to not force himself to sit through something he hated just to please me. It's weird that you two have been together more than half a year, but Rogue still feels like he needs to try and go along with what you want to make you feel secure. You ever make Rogue feel like he's not tolerant enough of some of the craziness in your guild? I bet you do. You make him try too hard to be what you want."

"Yeah? Well at least _I_ try to do was Rogue wants."

"Well maybe you try too hard too, if Rogue has to tell you not to," Sting said.

"I don't need to hear this from you. You think you're so great, coming back and messing everything up. Rogue and I were just fine before you decided it was okay to come back and take what you left out in the rain!" Natsu hissed. "You managed to get a whole week alone with him in a hotel in a foreign country, and you ended up getting him to run home early. Even if Rogue gave you a second chance, you have no shot. Don't tell me what's wrong with how _I'm_ doing things."

"I'm not just chasing Rogue away," Sting growled.

"You can't even get him to spend a week with you," Natsu accused. "You had _years_ and you couldn't get him to touch you. You think you're special for being Rogue's first boyfriend? Well, I was his first time."

The only thing keeping Sting from jumping out of bed and taking a swing at Natsu was that he physically couldn't. He only managed to prop himself up and realize that his lower half wouldn't obey him at all. He still fixed Natsu with the best glare he could and said, "And who's fault is that?"

"What?"

"Who's idea was it for you two to fuck? Yours, or his?"

Natsu scowled. Rogue had been the one to insist on it, but only after having been seduced first, and he'd never refused. He'd only said there wasn't any pressure. He'd wanted it. He'd damn near forced it the second time. It wasn't until they got to the resort that Rogue had come up with the idea on his own.

"It was yours, wasn't it?" Sting asked. "It was something you wanted, and Rogue does have to try so hard to please you. In fact, I don't think I mind anymore that we haven't slept together. It means I don't have to worry that all this time, I was making him feel like he had to bend down."

"Shut up! I told him he didn't have to!"

"But you wanted it, right?" Sting taunted. "You made it clear you did, and he needed to do something to keep you from thinking he didn't care. You had sex with him. Fine. Congrats. It was your idea." He was ginning again, finding himself in an unusual spot. He could see all the awful things he'd say that would get them in trouble if he spat them out. For once, he could catch himself before he said it. He just didn't want to. "Did you know Rogue and I made out? It was the night before we told you about going to Joya. He came to see me. We ended up out in the woods. We kissed. We went back home and kept it up. You know who instigated that? The same person who decided to come pay me a surprise visit."

Clenching his teeth, Natsu rose from his chair and left.

"Have fun with the hollow sex!" Sting called after him. If the sound of nurses outside his room sputtering was anything to go by, Rogue would hear about that one soon. Oh well. It had been worth it.


	24. Chapter 24

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Technically the final chapter of the story, but there's one more I wrote for the heck of it where Alex has been born.

Forget all those miserable train rides and boat trips and even that time that Genma had tied him up and left him on the floor of a magic four wheeler while he tested it out as punishment for… ah, heck. Rogue couldn't even remember why that had happened. It didn't matter. For as awful as he'd felt all those times, he couldn't have been more pleased with dragon slayer induced motion sickness just then. Pushing Sting's wheelchair was a riot. And as an added bonus, he was doing something with Sting that _didn't_ upset Natsu. In fact, Natsu seemed almost sympathetic to Sting as he curled up on himself in the chair and tried not to throw up in his lap.

Sadistically pleased as he was, Rogue wasn't completely cruel. Once he'd wheeled Sting a few yards away from the hospital door he stopped and let the blond catch his breath.

"Recovery… is going… to suck…" Sting gasped.

"At least the doctor didn't think you'd have any permanent disabilities," Lector reminded him, skimming over the details of just how long Sting was supposed to be on house rest.

"Other than brain damage," Natsu mumbled.

Sting didn't even bother to glare. For starters, there was only a _possibility_ of brain damage, and they'd just look into it if he noticed any impaired function around the house. And Natsu had taken so many cheap shots at him the past few weeks anyway that Sting was pretty sure the roset had stopped working entirely just to hang out in his hospital room and harass him.

Well two could play at that. "So Rogue," Sting twisted around in his wheelchair, albeit somewhat uncomfortably, to face the brunet and say, "Who do you think was more impressive, just overall, on that boring date Natsu picked?"

"The one who didn't leave me scared half to death for a week after," Rogue replied without missing a beat.

Sting sighed. "That's harsh."

"Maybe." Rogue gave the wheelchair a light shove, making Sting gag. Seeing Sting wince as he straightened out to take pressure off his stomach, Rogue asked, "How are you going to manage by yourself?"

"How mean!" Lector cried. "I can take care of Sting."

"Fro thinks so too!"

"Aye."

Rogue shot Happy a look for getting in on the cat fest, then sized Lector up. There… wasn't much size to do that with. He didn't doubt that Lector would try his best to help Sting while he was still recovering but… maybe… it couldn't hurt if—

"Go ahead," Natsu said.

Rogue looked to him. "What?"

"You're going to move back in with him, right? Go ahead. Be my guest. Maybe then _he_ can be the one freaking out every time you mention wanting to see _me_. Just go back to the house he locked you out of before. I'm sure you'll take good care of him while he puts you through hell." Without another word, Natsu turned and stormed off down the street.

Rogue gave the wheelchair another push to stop Sting before he could yell that he _did_ get uneasy with Rogue being around Natsu. Giving the cats a look to let them know to keep an eye on the blond, Rogue then ran after his boyfriend. Natsu _was_ his boyfriend. Whether or not Sting needed help, he needed to keep that in mind.

When Natsu heard Rogue following after him, he considered running. Would Rogue still chase him then? Probably… not. Rogue had taken to fussing about having to walk with Alex. Natsu didn't know when the last time Rogue had needed to move fast was.

He stopped, turned, and waited for Rogue to catch up to him

"Natsu, are you alright?" Rogue asked as he closed the distance between the two of them. "You've been acting weird and… I'm allowed to care about my friend getting hospitalized, if that's what this is about."

"But you're not allowed to make out with him," Natsu replied. "You did, right? You kissed Sting."

Rogue's mouth wasn't hanging open because he was shocked Natsu found out. It was hanging open because he'd forgotten what words he'd tried to speak before knowing how to respond to that.

"If you were dating Sting instead, would you do that to him?" Natsu asked. "Would you sneak away and make out with me?"

"It wasn't… I didn't plan to," Rogue mumbled. "I'm sorry."

" _Would you_?"

"Would I what?" Rogue asked. "Cheat on Sting with you?"

"You wouldn't," Natsu told him. "You just… even when you're with me, you go out of your way to let him know he can still come around. If I locked you out—my house has a lock now—and you went to Sting for a place to spend the night, would you take me back if I came begging?"

"If you're kicking me out, I've earned it."

Natsu looked Rogue in the eye, searching for any signs of fear. Desperation. Any clue that he was lying. That he wished he was lying. Nothing.

"I'm not," Natsu told him, "But I don't think you want to stay. I don't think you ever wanted me over Sting. I know you said you're no good with this kind of situation, and I'm not either, but I've been struggling with this enough that I didn't really need Sting shoving it in my face that you still like him. You're going to still like him, aren't you? Even if you stay with me and we do get married and go back to that diner during our honeymoon, you'd still like Sting."

Rogue broke eye contact. He'd never noticed before how _fascinating_ Natsu's sandals were.

"So you like me enough to stay with me," Natsu continued, "But not enough for just me. I just… I can't do this. I can't keep trying my all, or trying my all not to try my all, and getting no further for it than Sting does by walking in and telling you you're fat."

The words 'I am fat' rose in Rogue's throat, but he swallowed them back. It felt weird. His throat felt weird. His head was spinning. His chest hurt. He _did_ like Natsu. Not being the one to end things between them was a relief, but having someone he liked tell him he was too much to be with... wasn't.

"Right." Was this how Sting had felt, the morning after he slept with Natsu. Accusing him of doing it as payback. Something that could feel like a slap on the face, possibly even a dark truth being aired, with just enough fact to it so that it wouldn't be a slanderous insult. "You're right. Even if I do like you, there's no confusing gratitude with feelings any more. I owe both of you now." _And I like Sting more._ He had enough restraint not to add that on to the end, but looking back up at Natsu, he could see he hadn't needed to. "I'm sorry," he added lamely. "I didn't think I still would when I agreed to go out with you. I thought I'd get over him."

"The sun will go out before that happens."

Rogue smiled at that. If Sting ever stopped being so brilliant, he might just change his mind, but brilliance was at the core of Sting's character, even if he wasn't the brightest bulb out there. "I guess so. I'm sorry, Natsu."

"Yeah." Natsu turned away. "My offer stands. I'm not kicking you out because we broke up."

Because there was nothing more saintly than offering to let your cheating ex stay with you an extra month. Rogue sighed. But he'd known that Natsu was the sweeter of the two since the day he'd shown up at Natsu's doorstep. Since there was also nothing lower than mooching off the man you strung along and pressed to the point of needing to break things off with you, he shook his head. "I'll be fine."

"You're going back to Sabertooth then?"

"I can… but I like Fairy Tail. You don't mind if I stay with the guild, do you?" If Natsu said yes, he'd leave. He wasn't so awful that he'd stay if it was too much for Natsu to see him around.

"Some of my friends might. I think they were all taking bets on who you'd go with. They might be mad, but they'll get over it."

So he got to stay. "That's good. I have enough saved up that I can move into my own apartment."

"The one across the street from Lucy's opened up."

"I'll look at it," Rogue lied.

He couldn't bring himself to be rotten enough to ask the next question, but when the silence stretched on too long and Natsu glanced back, he could guess it easily. "Bring Sting if you want. Gray likes him, and I think Mira was hoping he'd win. She likes me more with Lucy anyway, for some reason. He's going to need someone pushing that evil chair anyway. The guild will forgive you faster than him, but he'll fit in sooner or later."

"You don't mind?" Stupid question. Of course Natsu would mind.

"Let me push him around a bit when he moves in and we'll call it even. He's never been a better punching bag than he is right now."

Rogue couldn't help but let a snicker slip through at that one. If Natsu could find some way to look at it positively, then he'd be fine. After a while. Maybe once the guild forgave him and Rogue. He could only imagine how furious Erza might be with him for hurting Natsu. She'd had a former flame go off and get engaged, he'd been told. For her it would be personal.

"I'm not sure he'd like that…"

"All the more reason too." Natsu held his hand up, waving half-heartedly. "You can come collect your things whenever. Take the mattress too. I don't need it. Wheel him onto the next train and get him home. Let him know I wish him luck getting the guild to forgive him. Until then, I'll be in on the hazing. If you tell him nothing else, tell him that last one."

Rogue put a bit more effort into his wave, but his nod was a stiff one and, he couldn't bring himself to say anything in response. Natsu turned and left.

When he came back to the front of the hospital he saw Sting so close to the edge of his seat the he might fall out. That was okay. To anxious looking nurses were watching from the window, even after Rogue pushed Sting back into the chair.

"You ran after him."

"I did."

"You don't…" Sting bit his lip. "You can't… really… want him more, right? Rogue."

Aw, that was the same distressed look Sting had given him when he first thought he'd been cheated on. Rogue smiled blankly at it for a moment, not sure what to do. It wasn't a 'I want my beloved to be happy, go catch him,' speech, but it was something. It was some doubt that he did care for Sting as much. Well, Sting had at least three months of needing help getting around for Rogue to convince him otherwise. Three months of just one guy wanting his love. Three months of not having to hold back with anyone to spare someone else's feelings. No more confusion over his own.

Life flooded into Rogue's smile, and he grabbed the wheelchair, giving it a rough shove that sent Sting back twenty feet. "Honestly," he teased, "I don't even get a chance to declare us official before you accuse me of being unfaithful again."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The song "Leave the Pieces" by The Wreckers always pops into my head when I think of this chapter. On the flip side, hearing that song makes this chapter pop into my head. They play country radio where I work, and it can be a tad bit weird sometimes to suddenly find myself thinking about an mpreg love triangle getting resolved.


	25. Chapter 25

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally, this story was meant to be Rogue/Natsu with Sting acting as an obstacle, but Stingue being my favorite ship after Jerza, I don't know how I thought I was going to pull that off.

Usually, having two parents meant that they could take turns getting out of bed at night when their baby started screaming, but usually one of those parents wasn't so bandaged that they may as well have been a mummy. If Rogue had felt spiteful he might have forced Sting into his wheelchair and pushed the blond down in the hall and into the nursery, but it wasn't that bad. Yet. By the time he was willing to force Sting up, the wheelchair would probably have been traded out for crutches anyway.

His side of the bed was pressed against the wall, so Rogue scooted over the foot of it to get out. If he didn't disturb Sting now, he'd be allowed to sleep come morning. That was the pattern they'd settled into. Rogue handles night shift. Rogue makes breakfast. Rogue takes Sting to nursery. Sting handles day shift while Rogue sleeps. Or works day shift at the guild.

Alexandria was wailing as loud as ever when Rogue drowsily stumbled into her room. How many times a night did she need to wake him up, anyway? He'd preferred it when she just made it hard for him to go to sleep.

Scooping her out of her crib, he bounced her on his shoulder while he checked for any of her common concerns. Diaper still smelled clean. She hadn't just wanted to be held. His next guess was that she was hungry, so he carried her down to the kitchen and fumbled around, trying to prepare her formula with one hand and hold her with the other. By the time she'd been fed and pacified, he was wide awake.

"You just like harassing me, don't you?" he asked.

Alex squealed and flopped her head down against his shoulder.

The temptation to carry her back to his bed was great, but injured or not, Sting would still be in close enough range to strangle him in the morning when he saw her there. Babies had the strangest safety hazards.

She wasn't crying, and he was still eager to get back to bed, so he carried her back to the nursery, passing a spare room on the way. They hadn't been able to find the perfectly sized place in Magnolia while house hunting, but they'd gotten one that was close enough. Rogue had figured the spare room could be for guests, or maybe a play area once Alex was a little older. Sting had said it could be a bedroom for their next kid.

Ha.

Not unless the blond wanted to subject himself nine months of embarrassing discomfort. Although when Rogue thought about it, maybe Sting was better suited for pregnancy than he'd been. He could certainly handle the post-birth aspects better than Rogue did, and in a wheelchair no less.

Tucking Alex back into her crib, Rogue gave her star mobile a twirl and waited just long enough to make sure she was happy with it before returning to his own bed.

-o-

It was still Rogue who had to get up first the next morning, when their organic alarm clock went off again.

"Do you want me to get breakfast for you two," he mumbled as he crawled over Sting to get out of bed.

"Eggs, please," Sting mumbled and rolled over.

Oh, that was _not_ going to fly. Not after he had to get up six times the past night. Rogue ripped off the sheets from on top of Sting and dropped them on the floor before wheeling his chair over.

Sting eyed the contraption as if it's purpose was designed to torture him rather than help him get around. Stupid motion sickness. But according to the doctor he was almost ready to move to crutches, healing much faster than they'd predicted. If he wanted to make a full recovery then he just had to stick it out a little longer. And not make Rogue think he was taking care of two babies. With that in mind, he bit his tongue and held back and protests as Rogue lifted him from bed and into the chair.

No conversing took place as he was wheeled across the hall. It was only a short distance, and Rogue wasn't so cruel as to make Sting talk while feeling miserable.

Once Sting had been positioned in front of Alex's crib Rogue lowered the sides of her bed prison, then put down the breaks on Sting's wheelchair. With Porlyusica's help his arms had recovered enough that he could lift them and move himself a few feet if he needed to. The only thing keeping him from wheeling himself further than that was the issue of such an act involving wheels.

He might have been out of that chair already if Wendy had helped. She was still asking Rogue why he didn't love Natsu though, so Rogue didn't have it in him to ask her to help the boy he'd split with Natsu for.

"Today's the day Erza brings Kiseki over, isn't it?" Sting asked.

Was it? Rogue rubbed his eye and muttered something vaguely affirmative, then tacked on a more coherent sentence. "I'll get you something to eat."

"Eggs," Sting reminded him as Rogue plodded out of the room.

Once the sleepy brunette was gone, Sting reached out and lifted Alex from her crib. If she weighed a little more than what the doctor said he should be carrying, well, the doctor didn't need to know. She needed a new diaper, a bottle, and maybe some lap time. Despite whatever Rogue thought, Sting was no expert with infants. He'd just researched it more after learning he may need to care for one. It also helped that while they were moving into the new place and getting all set for the baby, Sting had been unable to do much beyond practicing silly things like how to put a diaper on someone. It wasn't like he could have helped set the bed up. Thank God for Gray and Mira.

The scent of burnt eggs, paired with the sound of scraping, reached Sting. Alex must have cried more last night than he'd realized, if Rogue was tired enough to let food burn. By the time his boyfriend came in with food for him and a bottle for the baby, Sting had taken care of everything else. Just to be on the safe side, he checked the temperature of the bottle before giving it to Alex. Even wide awake, he'd known Rogue to forget that one.

Alex leaned back against him as he fed her, little hands flailing and sometimes lingering on the bottle a moment as she drank from it. Her tiny fingers brushed Sting's thumb and he smiled, warmth from seeing her being enough to fight down the chill that usually ran through him when he thought of how close he'd come to losing not only Rogue but his little girl to Natsu. Had jumping out in front of a fast moving vehicle really been what it took to win Rogue back? He didn't know. Rogue's response when asked about how they'd ended up back together could range anywhere from 'because I love you' to 'Natsu broke up with me, and I needed _someone_ to look after her' depending on his mood.

But at least he didn't need to beg Rogue to use the word 'love'. According to Frosch, Natsu had done that. He didn't have to try to know he and Rogue were good together.

When Alex finished with her bottle, Sting hoisted her up onto his shoulder, patting her back. His shoulders were finally willing to handle weight on them again. Until a week ago he'd needed to ask Lector of Frosch for help burping her.

Speaking of which…

"Lector?" Sting called out.

"It's seven…" A small voice from their bedroom replied. "If I can't get any solid sleep, seven is too early."

"Rogue is supposed to be at work. Don't let him go back to sleep."

It _sounded_ like Lector was carrying those instructions out. Rogue didn't usually use so many words that made Sting want to cover his daughter's ears, in any case.

Two thumps later, one for Lector being hit into the wall by a pillow, and one for Rogue not trying hard enough to get out of bed like a normal person, Rogue was at the nursery door again, glaring.

"Sorry. If I hadn't nearly died saving you, I'd be happy to be the one to go out and supporting the family."

Rogue snorted and walked away from the doorway to go get dressed to help Mira at the guild. It didn't pay as much as taking jobs off the request board, and with the various expenses of a child they were going to run out of saving soon, but Rogue was trying to be around at night until Sting could get out of bed on his own. Not many jobs you could get off the request board gave that option. They were just counting themselves lucky that the driver who'd struck Sting (and his various funders who hadn't wanted to look bad) had taken care of the hospital bills for them.

Two minutes later Rogue was out the door, probably having seen the clock and decided that there was no time for breakfast for himself.

Alex was looking around the room, cooing whenever she saw anything that looked fun. Sting undid the breaks on his wheelchair and moved forward enough to set her up in a play chair. Considering that they were strapped for cash, it was amazing how much baby crap they'd already accumulated. Rogue had brought over several boxes of the stuff from Natsu's house. Mostly gifts from the baby shower, but a few toys here and there that he'd seen while off on his own and grabbed. She'd yet to show interest in a third of them, including Fishlogia. The dragon doll slept on their bed now.

-o-

Erza came with her baby around noon. To the best of Sting's knowledge she'd never been pregnant, but he'd never bothered to learn the personal lives of anyone at Sabertooth, and he had yet to make any effort reaching out to people who were still a little sore about him at Fairy Tail, especially because he was only an honorary member until Makarov stopped worrying about it being too much pressure on his arm to get the guild mark.

"She looks like her mom," Erza noted when she brought Kiseki into the nursery. She was right. If Rogue had wanted, he could have claimed anyone was Alex's dad. A fair skinned, black haired, red eyed little beauty. The only thing you could tell when you looked at her was that she was Rogue's.

Aside from his eye color, Kiseki looked like the spitting image of Erza.

"What's your team doing without you?"

"Working like mad. Lucy is, at least," Erza answered. "That was Natsu's first love. She's trying to distract him from it."

Some clichéd line about how the first is the hardest, but everyone gets over it eventually occurred to both of them, but neither was a big enough hypocrite to say it.

"He's taking it badly?"

"He could have taken it better." Erza smiled. "It's fine. He's Natsu. He'll bounce back."

"Ah." Sting didn't care.

When Sting didn't say any more on the subject, Erza switched topics. "How are things with you and Rogue? Back to how it used to be already?"

"We have a baby and I'm in a wheelchair."

"Besides that." Erza clarified.

"I suppose." Kiseki fell over. Sting watched Erza straighten him back up and help him get his little mouth around the tie-dyed jellyfish doll she'd brought with her. "I mean, I don't think he's quite adjusted to taking care of Alex yet, but we don't argue any more than before."

"That's good. It's nice that the two of you can stay together."

"H-hey, it's only been a month. Considering we just spent over half a year apart…"

Erza covered her mouth with her hand and giggled. "I didn't mean it quite like that, but if you two are getting along then that's good too."

"Oh…" It clicked. "Sorry," Sting muttered. That time he did care. Even if she was Natsu's friend, she'd been good company while their kids explored or ignored having another fun sized person to interact with. "Would it be rude for me to ask what happened to Kiseki's father?"

"You're looking at her," Erza told him. Cold glint darting through her eyes, she added, "And I believe you've met his mother too."

"Have I?" Sting racked his brain for anyone he knew who could have had their child fathered by a woman. Aside from Rogue, though he couldn't quite… "Oh. The blue haired man."

Erza nodded.

"How is he?"

"Fine. Stupid, but that's nothing new."

But she'd commented on him and Rogue staying together. " _Where_ is he?"

Erza smiled.

"That's not an answer," Sting told her.

Before he could express any more annoyance with her refusal to comment, he heard the door slam shut. Erza took the opportunity to get up and see who'd come in, returning a minute later with Rogue.

"Don't you work until evening?"

"It seems they let you off early if you fall asleep standing up…"

"Fine, fine. Go to bed."

Rogue looked over his should at his and Sting's room. Bed did sound so very nice. Just to crawl in and cocoon himself in the sheets and…

"How's she doing?" He asked instead.

"Good." Sting hesitated, unsure of what else to say. That was the first time since giving birth that Rogue had asked about Alex when given the opportunity to sleep instead. "Do you want to join us?"

Rogue came in and sat on the ground between Sting and Erza, watching their children bat at the brightly colored toys in front of them and completely ignore the fact that they had a play-date. "I guess they're a bit too young to play together."

"Alex lost interest in Kiseki hours ago," Sting reported. "He still notices her from time to time. If he keeps doing that over the next couple years, I'm going to have to lay down some ground rules."

"My month old is not about to scandalize your daughter," Erza told him.

"Hey, I know from personal experience that boys only have one thing on their mind," Sting joked.

Erza looked back and forth from Sting to Rogue, recalling everything she'd heard from Mira and Sting about their love life, and snickered. Even if Rogue was willing to lay down for someone now, there was no way Sting was in any shape to finally give away his own virginity. "I'm sure that if you voice your thoughts enough, Rogue will teach you how to do it eventually."

Sting sputtered and turned scarlet, falling silent shortly after.

"Soon," Rogue dismissed.

Alex giggled.

-o-

Erza left not too long after, giving the mixed message of not wanting to expose her precious baby boy to such vulgar ideas and having some good tips for Sting if he still hadn't gotten any by the next time she brought Kiseki over.

"I'll probably die a virgin," Sting sighed.

"It could happen," Rogue acknowledged.

"But you know, I would like another kid. If that spell that gave us Alex is still working…"

"I'm not getting pregnant again," Rogue assured him. "And in any case, that was from magic. You can't convince me that sleeping with you will end with a second pregnancy."

"But you'd like another kid, right?"

"Isn't one enough?" Rogue asked tiredly. Adorable as she was, he wasn't so fond of Alex while she was forcing him out of bed on an hourly basis. That, and something about needing more kids felt like trying to collect all the prizes that came in your cereal box.

"She'll stop crying in the middle of the night once she's older," Sting pointed out. "But, I mean, the girl who botched that spell says she knows what she got wrong. In theory, we _could_ ask her to—"

" _I'm not getting pregnant again_."

Alex burst into tears. Before Sting could do anything, Rogue responded. He scooped her up and held her against his chest, cooing to her and rocking her back and forth without having given it a moment's thought.

Sting waited until Rogue had managed to use what parenting skills he did have to calm the girl, then cleared his throat and said, "We could ask her to give _me_ a kid."

"You're crazy."

"We could see her once Alex is old enough to sleep through the night."

"You really want to be pregnant?"

"I want Alex to have a sibling. Single children get spoiled. Besides," Sting patted his chest, fingers running over his belly shirt, "I don't need to worry about maternity clothes."

True, but not overly relevant. Rogue opened his mouth to tell Sting that he was crazy once more, but was distracted by the sound of Alex yawning. Her little form fidgeted just a bit, then relaxed in his arms. Within seconds she was fast asleep.

Struggling to keep from smiling too broadly at that, he shook his head and told Sting, "Fine. But not until she sleeps for longer. One baby crying all night is more than enough."

"It won't be nearly so bad once I'm up and walking again." Grinning so broadly his mouth might split his face in two, Sting bent over in his chair to kiss Rogue on the forehead. "I'll hold you to that."

"Don't worry. I look forward to seeing you suffer."


End file.
